The process of hiring a new provost for Butler University is now in full swing.
The provost search committee, made up of 17 faculty, staff and student representatives, is looking to fill the position.
Joseph Kirsch, chemistry professor and chair of the committee, will lead the group composed of faculty representatives from each of the six colleges, a representative from the student government and staff representatives from administration and Student Affairs.
“The provost is the chief academic officer of the university with responsibilities for guiding the academic direction of the institution and ensuring the quality of the academic programs, faculty and academic support staff,” Kirsch said.
“There’s the actual duties, and there’s some what you might call inspirational personality qualities that we’d like to see in the person,” Kirsch said.
Such duties consist of overseeing the development of academic policies and the Faculty Senate and coordinating the hiring and retention of faculty and staff.
This individual also has budgetary responsibilities for academic programs and resources and maintains the cycle of program review.
Some of the inspirational qualities the committee is looking for include being an advocate for the academic mission of the university, a model of scholarly excellence and an effective steward of Butler’s academic reputation.
“We are already looking at candidates now, but we won’t do anything about that until October,” Kirsch said, “After that, we’ll get together and take a look at the applications.”
Once considerations of the applications begin, a prospect review meeting will be held, where the search committee discusses all candidates and selects leading individuals.
The number of applications will be reduced to a smaller size, Kirsch said.
Then the committee will hold phone interviews and personal interviews, he said.
“We hope all of that is done by the middle of November,” Kirsch said, “and at that point, we’ll probably ship a few names off to the president, and he will make a choice.”
The search committee has a website with more details about the position and hiring process. For more information, go to http://www.butler.edu/provost-search.
