Kathryn Morris has been selected to serve as Butler University’s provost and vice president for academic affairs, effective Jan. 1.
Morris has served as served as the interim provost and vice president of academic affairs since January.
Faculty, staff, trustees and students made up the 17-member search committee which has reviewed more than 100 applications from across the country since October.
The search committee then narrowed the pool down to ten candidates to be interviewed. Of those, six were brought to Indianapolis for further interviews.
President Jim Danko made the final decision to appoint Morris.
Her endorsement was unanimous among deans, the committee and faculty senate leaders, Danko wrote.
“Kate has done an exceptional job in assuming a challenging position and situation,” Danko said in a press release. “An important factor for me in making this decision is Kate’s familiarity with Butler and her unrelenting support for the best interests of our faculty, staff and students. Such qualities are critical to managing our academic affairs.”
In a university press release, Morris said that her year as interim provost helped her learn more about the work that goes on around the university.
“I wanted to be provost because of my love for the institution and the belief in what we’re doing,” she said. “It’s the belief in the high-quality education that we deliver. It’s the belief in the people who make up our faculty and staff. It’s the belief in our students and how special they are—and I really do think they’re special. I wanted to serve in whatever way I could.”
Morris was chosen from more than 100 candidates who responded to advertisements published in mid-August.
The advertisement said that the job requires “a strong academic leader” who is “able to work closely with the deans of each college for the common good of the university.”
Committee chair Joseph Kirsch was happy with the number of applications and the quality of applicants for the position.
“The pool of applicants, in my humble opinion, is very strong,” Kirsch said in an interview with The Collegian in October. “The diversity gives us a very strong pool to look at, and the stronger the pool, the more options the committee has for selecting candidates.”
Morris stepped into the interim position in January, when former provost Jamie Comstock asked to step down.
The provost and vice president for academic affairs is responsible for overseeing academic policies, Faculty Senate, coordinating and hiring and the retention of faculty and staff.
She also will have budgetary responsibilities for academic programs and resources and maintaining the cycle of program review.
Before serving as interim provost, Morris served as the psychology department chair from 2007 to 2011.