Candidates who applied for the position of associate provost for student success started their series of visits this week and will be meeting with the search committee overseeing selection of the position.
Six finalists will visit the campus in the next two weeks and they will spend a day and a half meeting with different groups of faculty and students.
Amanda Yale, associate provost for enrollment services, said the candidates are coming from all across the country.
“We have six experienced candidates coming to campus,” Yale said. “Their backgrounds are very diverse and it’s going to give an opportunity for this campus to say what does it really mean to do this job.”
Yale said that position of associate provost for student success is someone that numerous groups on campus report to, including academic services, residence life programming, the Pride Center, multicultural development and student health services.
The candidates’ visits to the campus consists of numerous steps. Each candidate will start the day with the provost and associate provost of academic and student affairs after a welcome to campus, and then be given a tour of the campus. Then they will meet with the president of the university, followed by lunch.
Yale said the lunch is more informal and consists of the candidate meeting with seven to 10 students from SGA and other groups on campus. Yale said the lunch helps the candidate find out the student perspective of the university.
There is then an open presentation in the student center, which students are encouraged to attend. The candidate will give a presentation on the best practices in colleges and universities for improving student success on campus.
After the presentation, the group can ask the candidate questions and fill out an evaluation form with their comments.
“Usually, what I like to see is that a dialogue is happening after the presentation, a student group is important,” Yale said.
The candidate is then interviewed by the search committee that is comprised of 11 people representing the unions and management on campus.
“The idea is to give them an opportunity, they’re interviewing us as much as we’re interviewing them,” Yale said.
The process ends with dinner and then a wrap-up session. The visits began on April 26 and end on May 11.
