April 21, 2008
Provost candidates meet campus community
Over the last 10 days the Provost Search Committee held town hall meetings where the four provost candidates spoke of their qualifications and responded to questions posed by faculty, students, and staff. American Today reporters synopsized the candidates presentations.
Scott Bass, UMBC
Scott Bass, a candidate for provost, believes in listening.
There are two models of leadership that new leaders tend to follow as they take the helm, the provost candidate told members of the university community.
In one model, the first year is a time to make changes and show the new leader is “really getting things done.”
In the other model, that time is spent listening. “I’ve been very successful in the latter model, and believe in it,” said Bass, currently vice president for Research and dean of the Graduate School at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).
Listening to faculty and the campus community has been key to his success at UMBC, he said. “It’s faculty that make universities work. Our job is to empower faculty. That’s the difference between a great institution and an okay institution,” he said.
AU and UMBC face some similar challenges, he noted. While UMBC is a public university, it is not the flagship campus of the University of Maryland system. So like AU, it is heavily dependent on tuition and external funding.
At UMBC, Bass has overseen the doubling of external funding, launched recruitment strategies that boosted graduate enrollment by 70 percent, and placed a high priority on attracting women and minorities in fields where they’re underrepresented.
Why is AU compelling to him at this point in his career? “This is the only interview I’ve done [for another position], and there’s no push for me to leave UMCB,” he said. But he sees “the fit,” and is attracted by the opportunity to bring his philosophy of academic leadership to “a much larger and more complex national and international stage.”
Bass holds a combined doctorate in psychology and education, and is a distinguished professor of sociology and public policy at UMBC. A nationally known gerontologist, he has authored or coedited eight books. —SA
Ivy Broder, AU
“For 33 years it’s been my main professional home,” said provost candidate Ivy Broder. Broder recounted her accomplishments as interim provost, a position she’s held since August 2005.
Under her leadership, she said the university has introduced several new degree programs, including a certificate in nonprofit management that involves all five of AU’s schools and colleges. Broder has also worked to develop new strategies for awarding financial aid, made changes to the international admissions unit, and helped create the first-year learning communities, including the University College. She also established the International Faculty Travel Award and the Venture Capital Fund, which provides faculty with funds for research, summer stipends, proposal writing, or travel.
“This institution has tremendous momentum,” Broder said. “I have the knowledge and understanding of this community . . . to keep AU moving forward.”
As provost, Broder vowed to promote faculty research, develop new graduate offerings, and to create more geographic diversity within the incoming freshmen class. She also promised open lines of communication between faculty and the provost’s office.
“As I talk with faculty members, there seem to be a lot of misunderstandings about processes and practices—and the only way to dispel them is to have direct communication,” she said.
Broder holds a PhD in economics. She has served as dean of faculties (1993–1995) and dean of academic affairs (1995–2005), and her articles have appeared in a variety of journals, including the American Economic Review and Journal of the American Statistical Association. She’s also worked as a program director at the National Science Foundation, a guest lecturer at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute, and an economic policy fellow at the Brookings Institution. —AF
Robert Thompson, Duke
Provost candidate Robert Thompson thinks of education as “a moral enterprise.”
“It’s not just a pathway to personal success, but a gateway to improving society,” said the provost candidate, who is dean of the undergraduate school of arts and science at Duke University.
Thompson is a child psychologist with 32 years of experience at Duke, where he has taught undergraduate, graduate, and medical students and held positions of academic leadership in the arts and sciences and medical school.
He’s known for helping to reshape undergraduate education at Duke to heighten the focus on research. Changes to the curriculum under Thompson have included a revamping of the writing program to include a focus on writing in the disciplines. He also set benchmarks to increase the number of students engaged in mentored research projects.
Asked how he’d transfer his experience from Duke, which has a substantial endowment, to AU, which does not, he said it’s important to “find areas of distinctiveness that really fit your institution and prioritize those . . . The strategy I would bring is to really engage in the delineation of these cutting-edge aspects that would really serve to sharpen the profile of the school.”
What’s key to success, he said, is to “have an atmosphere that sets an expectation of excellence.” There also, he said, has to be “effective branding and marketing.”
Thompson has held a number of academic leadership roles at Duke, including dean of Undergraduate Affairs and dean of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, and serves as professor of psychology and medical psychology. —SA
Charles Johnson, Texas A&M
When Charles Johnson needs to make a tough decision—and he’s made plenty—he likes to hear from those who will be impacted.
“You want to make sure that people are at the table who the decision will affect,” said Johnson, a candidate for provost. “My approach to things is I like to understand them.”
Dean of Texas A&M University’s College of Liberal Arts since 2001, Johnson, who holds a PhD in political science, runs a school with more than 500 tenure track professors. In essence, he runs an institution roughly the size of AU, he said last Friday.
“At Texas A&M, the College of Liberal Arts, we teach 99 percent of our students,” he said. “Liberal arts is at the core of this university, so there’s a certain feeling of home here.”
Johnson addressed what he would work to achieve if he were to become provost at AU. Increasing the diversity of AU’s faculty and student body would be a priority, as would continuing and expanding international programs. Among his philosophies is to build strengths within departments, not just to build departments.
One of Johnson’s biggest challenges came when he decided to close Texas A&M’s Department of Journalism. It was a difficult one made after a very open evaluation process, he said.
“You shelter strength and try to cut back on weaker programs,” he said. “You consult as widely as possible then you have to make a judgment call.”
While dean Johnson led a capital campaign that raised $41 million—$6 million more than its goal. He also secured approvals for new PhD programs in philosophy and Hispanic studies, bachelor’s programs in music and classics, and an academic program in Africana studies.
“As an administrator my approach is that I’m here to serve and facilitate,” he said.
Prior to becoming dean, Johnson served as the department head of Political Science at Texas A&M from 1992 to 2001. From 1988 to 1992 he served as associate dean of liberal arts. —MU
