With four colleges, a growing student population and high fundraising ambitions, Baker University President Pat Long has been busy.
But her load will be lightened soon, at least if the search for a provost goes as planned, she said.
Harold Kolenbrander, the same academic search consultant used in the search that resulted in Long’s appointment to president of the university, arrived on campus Monday to begin the search process for a university provost.
Long said her predecessor, Dan Lambert, suggested she create the position when she first arrived, but she wasn’t ready until after a period of observation.
Long said the first step has been to develop a job description for the new position.
“What I’m looking for is someone who is our academic leader through associate degrees to our doctoral degree,” she said.
However, Long said the job description, which is projected to be finalized next week, should be clearer after Kolenbrander’s visit.
“After the next couple of days, as people start talking about this even more, I’m sure it will be refined even more,” Long said.
Rand Ziegler, dean of the college of arts and sciences, said it was wise to bring in Kolenbrander for the search.
“Basically, he’s going to match up a quality person with our institution,” Ziegler said. “He knows us fairly well from our search for Pat.”
A new provost would serve as an executive vice president with various roles at Baker University, Long said. As the leader of academic services at Baker, Long said a provost will lead a dean’s council, which would consist of the deans of all four colleges, the dean of student development and the vice president for enrollment management.
“For this person to be an academic officer, this person will be a great benefit to those who are here on the academic side,” Ziegler said.
An additional responsibility of a provost would be as the chief operating officer to serve as a university leader while Long is off campus working on various projects and fundraising, she said.
“We need, I think, a strong person at the university to be pushing things forward, continuing the dialogue and making decisions when I’m not here,” Long said.
Ziegler said he has been involved in the development of the job description and hopes to have an active role in the interview process. Ziegler said Long needs a chief operating officer to work with the 13 people who all report directly to Long at this time.
“I’m persuaded that the president needs a high-level administrative officer,” he said. “I think with all of the fundraising that she wants to do, with her vision about where Baker needs to go with respect to facilities and programs, she’s got an awful lot on her plate. She wants to give everyone her full attention. It’s becoming increasingly tough to do that.”
Ziegler said the addition of a provost and dean’s council could be used to add to Long’s vision of “forward together.”
“I think what she means is pulling the schools together and being one university,” Ziegler said. “Intuitively, I think it makes a lot of sense. Practically speaking, I think we need to see if it can even be done.”
Determining to what degree the schools should be intertwined would be up to the provost, Ziegler said.
“Part of me would believe that we could gain some efficiency by pooling the schools together,” he said. “I think the provost will have to decide where the similarities are across schools, and where there are opportunities for efficiency, where there are opportunities for creating community. I think the provost must decide where the differences are and where the differences should be.”
Ziegler said some differentiation makes since, but he believes the campuses could be connected more to create one comprehensive institution.
“I don’t think we want to put round pegs in square holes here, but I think there are opportunities for integrating features and functions of the four schools,” he said. “There might be opportunities for making students at both the nursing and the Overland Park campuses more a part of the Baldwin City and main campus, but at the same time, if that’s not at our advantage, we don’t need that either.”
Professor of English Preston Fambrough, who is co-chair of the selection committee with Kathy Harr, dean of the school of nursing, said the search period is somewhat shorter than usual but without concern.
“We have already estimated a timeline. It’s going to be a fast-tracked search. Typically, I understand, searches consume most of an academic year,” Fambrough said. “Dr. Kolenbrander is persuaded that we can do a careful and successful search between now and the end of the semester.
Fambrough said the job description will be finalized and publicized beginning next week. After screening applicants, the pool will be limited to about eight candidates who will receive off-campus interviews.
From there, the applicant pool will be reduced to between three and five, and those candidates will come to campus for more formal interviews. Fambrough said the final round of interviews will be held in mid-May.
Though a provost has never been a common position at Baker, Long said it will help create a better environment and aid her vision for the university.
“If I were a student, I’d be saying ‘Well, so what? Why is this an important position?'” Long said. “I think it’s an important position because it signals to the campus community that academics is our No. 1 priority.” Rand Ziegler, dean of the college of arts and sciences, said it was wise to bring in Kolenbrander for the search.
“Basically, he’s going to match up a quality person with our institution,” Ziegler said. “He knows us fairly well from our search for Pat.”
A new provost would serve as an executive vice president with various roles at Baker University, Long said. As the leader of academic services at Baker, Long said a provost will lead a dean’s council, which would consist of the deans of all four colleges, the dean of student development and the vice president for enrollment management.
An additional responsibility of a provost would be as the chief operating officer to serve as a university leader while Long is off campus.
“We need, I think, a strong person at the university to be pushing things forward, continuing the dialogue and making decisions when I’m not here,” Long said.
Ziegler said Long needs a chief operating officer to work with the 13 people who all report to Long at this time.
“I think with all of the fundraising that she wants to do, with her vision about where Baker needs to go with respect to facilities and programs, she’s got an awful lot on her plate. She wants to give everyone her full attention,” he said.
Ziegler said the addition of a provost and dean’s council could be used to add to Long’s vision of “forward together.”
“I think what she means is pulling the schools together and being one university,” Ziegler said.
Professor of English Preston Fambrough, who co-chairs the selection committee with Kathy Harr, dean of the school of nursing, said the search period is somewhat shorter than usual.
“Typically, I understand, searches consume most of an academic year,” he said. “Dr. Kolenbrander is persuaded that we can do a careful and successful search between now and the end of the semester.”
After screening applicants, the pool will be limited to about eight candidates who will receive off-campus interviews.
The applicant pool will then be reduced to between three and five, and those candidates will come to campus for more formal interviews. Fambrough said the final round of interviews will be held in mid-May.