Pitt continues search for new provost

One of eight names — from a list that started with more than 100 — will soon have… One of eight names — from a list that started with more than 100 — will soon have the title “Provost” in front of it.

The Provost Search Committee, a mix of 20 students, faculty and staff members at Pitt, began in-person interviews for the next provost this week. The candidates all came from the Association of American Universities or schools similar to Pitt, committee chair Randy Juhl said.

By mid-May, the committee will give Chancellor Mark Nordenberg a list of four or five unranked candidates to replace outgoing Provost James Maher. Maher announced in November that he would retire as provost and return to teaching in the physics department of the School of Arts and Sciences.

Juhl said he hopes the University will have its new provost, one of the highest ranking administrators in the University, before July 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year.

A few members of the Provost Search Committee explained what they hoped to find in a provost.

Student Government Board president Charlie Shull said he is one of the few members of the committee who directly represents undergraduate student concerns. The other is Rosemary Natale, president of the College of General Studies student government.

Shull said many of the candidates and most of the committee focused primarily on academics while conducting the search, and the undergraduate representatives needed to look at qualities outside of academia, such as how a provost would work with Student Affairs.

“It is going to be very difficult to gauge, but a mega part of what I am trying to find out,” Shull said.

The University’s next provost will have to look at a program and say, “Let’s not be afraid to change it,” Shull said. He’s not looking for large changes, but Shull thought the ability to look at a program and change it if necessary will be important.

Looking for a single issue to use to select the provost is not the best way to do it, said Dennis Curran, a committee member and a chemistry professor.

“I’m not looking for the best provost for the chemistry department. I think that is too small a goal. I’m looking for the best provost for the University,” Curran said.

Daniel Jimenez, last year’s president of the Graduate and Professional Student’s Assembly, said he hoped the next provost would have the ability to spot promising research programs and support them, like Maher.

For examples, Jimenez pointed out Pitt’s research in bioengineering and nanoscience.

The concerns of GPSA for the new provost, Jimenez said, are “more academically focused.”

In representing undergraduate students, Shull said he wants to find a provost who will appreciate the work of the last 15 years, which helped to make Pitt a top research university.

But the new provost will need to find a balance between graduate-level research and undergraduate education, Shull said.

“We need to focus on the kind of teachers we have in undergraduate studies and the quality of programs,” he said.

He pointed out that much of Pitt’s budget and most of the student body come from undergraduate programs.

Curran said the committee seeks a provost who would be “really committed to the University,” rather than looking at the job as the next step in his or her career.

More on the Office of the Provost

The Office of the Provost has direct responsibility over all the schools at Pitt, except for the schools of health sciences which fall under another vice chancellor, according to Pitt’s website. The provost also approves decisions about curriculum changes and faculty hiring and tenure decisions.

The provost’s office controls part of the University’s budget and can direct it to different programs, said Dennis Curran, a member of the committee.

The schools of health sciences — the schools of medicine, pharmacy, the Graduate School of Public Health and the dental school — have a separate dean, but the provost still approves faculty hiring there.

Officially, the provost is the “chief academic officer of the University,” Vice Provost and Dean of Students Kathy Humphrey said.

She said Maher took his responsibilities even further, playing an active role in life outside the classroom.

Humphrey’s chief responsibility is overseeing Pitt’s Division of Student Affairs. She conducts that work directly under Maher.

All of the major programs, including the Outside of the Classroom Curriculum, that come from Student Affairs receive the support of the Provost’s office, Humphrey said. The Student Affairs budget also comes from the provost’s office.