A member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, Bemidji State University is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer and educator.
Academic and Student
Affairs
Organizational Awareness Seminar #1
September 2015
A member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, Bemidji State University is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer and educator.
Overview
• Current organization
• BSU and academic affairs
• What is a provost/vpaa?
o Pathway to provost
o What provosts do
o What do they think about
o Why do they do want to do this
• Chat
Current organization
• Organizational chart
http://www.bemidjistate.edu/about/wpcontent/uploads/sites/4/2014/06/VPAcademic-Affairs.pdf
• NTC
What’s a Provost?
•
A provost is the senior academic administrator who acts in the absence of
the president at many institutions of higher education in the United States
and Canada, the equivalent of a pro-vice-chancellor at some institutions in
the United Kingdom and Ireland or a Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at
most Australian universities.
How’d this happen?
Personal Pathway
A member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, Bemidji State University is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer and educator.
Personal pathway
•BSU/NTC and Bob Griggs
•Northeastern State University and Don Betz
•University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and UW System
•Northern Michigan and California State University-Monterey Bay
•Dave Larkin and BSU
•Recruited to Utah State University
•From middle school to UW Platteville
•Middle School Teacher (7 years)
•USAF accounting
•Restaurant manager; UPS driver; paving crew; tobacco farm
Ph.D. Educational Leadership, Miami Univ
M.Ed. Administration/Writing, Utah State Univ
B.S. Geography/English, Utah State Univ
What do provosts do?
A member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, Bemidji State University is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer and educator.
Financial sustainability, planning
• Work with deans and AVPAA on:
o College and departmental budgets
o People, people, people
o Contracts and grants
• Planning
o Master academic
o Facilities
o IT
o University strategic
Administration
• Colleges, schools, units
• Academic program approvals/CAO
o Resources and processes
• Accreditation
o Regional, state, national
• Teaching and learning
• Student success
o Recruitment, retention, graduation
• Faculty/staff/administrator reviews
Partnerships and relationships
• Articulations
o System/state
o National
o International
• International
• Community, state, region, national
• Intracampus/interdepartmental
• System
Protect the presidency and the university
• Community reputation of BSU
o State recognition
o Regional recognition
o National/international recognition
• As directed/requested by the president
What do provosts think about?
A member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, Bemidji State University is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer and educator.
2013 Survey of Provosts: Gallup for Inside
Higher Education
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/survey/skepticism-about-tenure-moocsand-presidency-survey-provosts
“Today's provosts are a skeptical lot. That may come with
the territory, as they must constantly prioritize some ideas
(and some people's careers) over others -- tasks that are
never easy and have been made more challenging by the
economic downturn.”
Tenure
“Future generations of faculty in this country should not
expect tenure to be a factor in their employment at higher
education institutions.”
The percentage agreeing or strongly agreeing:
• Public institutions: 58 percent (with community colleges
at 68 percent)
• Private nonprofit institutions: 53 percent
• For-profit institutions: 87 percent
Non-tenure track
“Provosts' Predictions on Their Institutions' Future Reliance on Those Off the Tenure Track”
All
Public
Private Nonprofit
For-Profit
Expect less reliance
11%
11%
12%
8%
Expect same level of reliance
66%
67%
64%
66%
Expect greater reliance
23%
22%
23%
26%
Financial, unions, teaching
“On other topics related to the faculty role at colleges and universities,
some highlights of the survey:”
• Only 8 percent of provosts strongly agree that their faculty members
understand the financial challenges facing their institutions.
• Only 3 percent of provosts strongly agree that faculty unions benefit
higher education, with the figures 4 percent at public institutions
(where many have faculty unions) and 2 percent at private
institutions (where such unions are rare). This question received
very high "strongly disagree" responses, with 45 percent strongly
disagreeing with the statement.
• Relatively few provosts believe that faculty members can earn
tenure based on research success if they are poor instructors. Only
2 percent strongly agreed and 5 percent agreed with that statement.
Provost job; president job
“Across sectors, provosts agreed (most of them strongly) that their jobs
have grown beyond academic affairs, with 51 percent strongly agreeing
and only 1 percent strongly disagreeing that this shift had taken place.
While provosts are clearly in no way shielded from the difficult
economic choices facing many institutions, the survey results suggest
that they don't necessarily long for the top job on campus, as once
might have been the norm. Among all CAOs, 2/3 do not plan to pursue
a president’s position.
Average president tenure: 6.9 years; provost 4.7 years; dean 4 years.
>80% of provosts are gone within 2 years of a new president’s arrival.
What keeps me awake
• Dichotomy of the future of higher education
and practices/attitudes at BSU
• Resources/finances
• Perception of BSU
• People and lives
• Balancing everything
Why do this?
A member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, Bemidji State University is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer and educator.
Why do this?
Passion for:
• People
• Community
• Learning
• Helping
• Improving
• Challenges
• Change
• Pace
• Never knowing what the day will bring
What do you need?
• Patience, timing and tolerance
• Flexibility and cultural astuteness
• Binocular view of the world
• Experience and a thick skin
• A grounding in democratic principles
• Ability to prioritize
• Ability to communicate
• Ability to decide
• An understanding family
• A personal life you can defer