Dr. James N. Spain, PhD
9200 East Bowling Lane
Columbia, MO 65201
(573) 864-8099
spainj@missouri.edu
April 28, 2016
TO:
Dr. Sandra Kelly,
Chair, Search Committee
Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Studies
University of South Carolina
I am pleased to submit my materials as a candidate to serve the University of South
Carolina as the Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Studies. I have a genuine respect
for the University of South Carolina and consider it a destination University for students,
faculty and academic leaders. The strategic investment of resources to achieve success in
teaching, research, service and economic development signifies the commitment of USC to
fulfill its mission as South Carolina’s leading university. I am very interested in the focus of
the position to advance undergraduate education through enriching classroom instruction
with beyond-the-classroom experiences. I believe my experiences across my twenty five
year career in higher education with advancing administrative responsibilities have prepared
me to successfully serve the University of South Carolina in the role of Vice Provost and
Dean.
The focus of your Vice Provost and Dean on students and their success strongly
aligns with the work I have been passionate about throughout my 25 year tenure at the
University of Missouri. I currently serve as the advocate for undergraduate teaching and
learning. In this role, I help lead a collaborative effort to improve our retention and
graduation rates. I co-chaired the Commission for Student Success, working with the Vice
Provost for Enrollment Management and the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. We used
research to identify issues impacting retention and graduation. The largest factor affecting
student persistence is the ability to meet the costs of attendance. This discovery led to the
formation of a team involving several student services offices that crossed administrative
units. These offices have collaborated to revise operating procedures and improve student
financial support services. The team developed a Student Financial Wellness Summit to
better prepare student service professionals to help our students facing financial challenges.
Academic advising is another key factor that the Commission identified as an
opportunity for improvement. At the request of academic advisors, I appointed a campus
team with the charge to develop an academic advising assessment instrument. The team
developed an assessment survey that is being used to capture feedback from students.
Student input is being used to develop professional development programs for our academic
advisors.
Academic advisors also requested access to an online appointment scheduler with
notes feature. Working with the Office of the Registrar, Student Information Systems and the
Division of IT, we deployed an early alert system with the appointment scheduler and notes
feature. Advisors were also concerned about their ability to support students struggling with
mental health concerns. I worked with the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs to champion
Mental Health First Aid training sessions for academic advisors, student service
professionals, front office personnel and MU police officers. Efforts to strengthen academic
advising led to faculty and professional advisors being honored by NACADA for
excellence in academic advising.
I also advocate for programs that serve and support students and faculty. These
programs provide support for students in their efforts to achieve success and include tutoring
and writing assistance. In addition to academic support programs, I work with Service
Learning, Undergraduate Research, and Fellowships Office to give the students and our
faculty opportunities to go beyond-the-classroom to enrich learning through high impact
educational experiences. We have consistently had students selected to participate in
Posters on the Hill, a national undergraduate research forum sponsored by the Council on
Undergraduate Research. We created the Visual Arts and Design Showcase to honor and
celebrate the creative works of our undergraduate students. Finally, we have created an
international service learning effort that has combined the impacts of study abroad with
service learning.
Our faculty receive support for their teaching through the Campus Writing Program
and Educational Technologies at Missouri (ET@MO). ET@MO has led efforts with course
redesign and is currently piloting a curriculum redesign project with faculty in the Sinclair
School of Nursing. In five of the last six years, MU faculty supported by ET@MO have been
selected to receive the International Boyer Award for Teaching Excellence. In 2015, one of
our faculty was the recipient of the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Teaching Excellence.
Each spring we conclude the academic year with the Celebration of Teaching Conference.
I was assigned responsibility for reorganizing our online/distance education programs.
We merged three groups in one operational unit (Mizzou Online) and reassigned educational
designers to ET@MO. Our reorganization efforts were recognized with a national award, a
tribute to the efforts of every member of the units involved in the reorganization. This
recognition was based on the growth in programs, students and enrollments – over 100%
growth over the past four years. We have experienced a concurrent increase in tuition
revenue from online enrollment growing from $16 million to $31 million during the last
four years. The hallmark of the success with our online programs has been the partnership
with Deans and the involvement of faculty throughout the reorganization process.
Throughout my twenty five years in higher education, I have had responsibilities for
teaching and advising. I continue to teach/team teach three courses and advise
undergraduate students. I still work in collaboration with my colleagues on research
manuscripts. This daily involvement in teaching and advising has helped me better serve my
current institution in my administrative role.
I would be honored to be invited to meet the search committee. I would welcome the
opportunity to earn your trust in being considered for this important leadership role.
I am respectfully and sincerely yours,
Dr. Jim Spain
Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies