Committee searches for candidate to replace provost

Written by Alexa Garcia-Ditta, The Shorthorn staff

Wednesday, 03 October 2007 05:55 PM

The university posted its search for a new provost Tuesday to garner a list of strong applicants worthy of leading campus academics after Provost Dana Dunn resigned last spring. The announcement, now on the university’s main Web site and the site of The Chronicle of Higher Education, calls for a provost and vice president for Academic Affairs candidate with leadership experience, “scholarly achievement” and institutional understanding, among other qualifications. “We have a very wonderful, complex institution that requires that the leadership be well-informed,” said Liberal Arts Dean Beth Wright, provost search committee co-chair. “We’re asking for quite a lot, and I’m enthusiastic about the search.” Dunn, who held several administrative roles over the past 10 years, resigned from the position in August to return to the sociology classroom. Ron Elsenbaumer has been provost in the interim. “We had a superb provost in Dr. Dunn,” Wright said. “Now we’re looking for everything.” The provost and vice president for Academic Affairs acts as the chief academic administrator on campus. The provost also manages academic research and teaching throughout all colleges and schools. The provost search committee members, appointed by President James Spaniolo, are seeking help from Auerbach Associates, an outside consulting and search forum based out of Massachusetts, in selecting the right candidates. Committee co-chair John Priest, an industrial engineering professor, said the position will remain posted until the group is satisfied with the responses. Auerbach Associates will serve as a filter and perform background checks on selected applicants. “They’ll give [the committee] feedback, and we’ll have meetings to narrow down the candidates,” Priest said. He said the committee will narrow its list to between five and eight applicants before setting up phone interviews. Once the final list has been compiled, those candidates will be invited for one-on-one interviews. Spaniolo will make the final decision as to who will fill the position. “I’m looking for someone that is well-qualified and best for UTA,” Spaniolo said. Priest anticipates the search process will be complete by the spring. “Why not get it done as quickly as possible?” he said. “I don’t see a reason to make this a very long process.” Priest, who served on the presidential search committee and is the Faculty Senate chair-elect, said he wants to find a “clone” of Dunn. “I think we’re going to get a lot of good candidates,” he said. “I’d be shocked if we don’t. We’re a very competitive university.” Archived Stories Dunn resigns as provost to teach: Ron Elsenbaumer, VP for research, will temporarily fill the position. April 6, 2007 Views: 1318 | E-mail   Be first to comment this article Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.6 AkoComment © Copyright 2004 by Arthur Konze - www.mamboportal.com All right reserved

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 23 October 2007 02:47 PM )

 

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