Hunt for a new provost heating up

Members of UNC’s provost search committee have spent weeks getting input from campus administrators. Now they’re ready to act.

The selection process will ramp up in coming weeks as committee members begin narrowing the pool of applicants.

And while UNC has seen a string of high-level administrators selected from within its own ranks, most of the applicants from this search are from outside the University.

The position opened in June, when Provost Bernadette Gray-Little left to become chancellor of the University of Kansas.

Whoever becomes the next provost, UNC’s chief academic officer, will directly oversee the University’s deans and some vice chancellors.

The new provost will work with the chancellor to determine academic policy and lead the University’s review of its academic plan.

Although the candidate pool is mostly external, search committee chairman Shelton Earp said he thought the number of internal candidates was about right.

“There is a whole universe of people outside the University,” Earp said. “There are only so many internal candidates to draw from.”

In the next few weeks, Earp will work with R. William Funk & Associates consulting firm to weed out the weakest candidates.

“We have people who have never worked with a university administration,” Earp said. “This is an important phase because it wouldn’t necessarily be a good use of the entire committee’s time to look through every applicant.”

Earp told the search committee that after removing 10 to 20 “inappropriate” candidates from the current pool, about 40 would remain. Although the committee has begun its work, UNC is still accepting applications, he said.

The committee has held multiple meetings in the past month to solicit opinions from administrators about what sort of person the next provost should be.

For the most part, deans and vice chancellors who met with the committee said they want to see a provost with a strong personality who can communicate well and make tough decisions.

Several administrators also said successful candidates would need experience at a large, preferably public, university.

“People who are comfortable in a private university are just different from those who are comfortable in a public university,” Kristen Swanson, dean of the School of Nursing, said to the committee.

School of Government Dean Mike Smith told the committee that any new provost would need to at least understand the interactions between the school and the N.C. General Assembly in Raleigh.

“It is important that the provost appreciates the role of a state university for their state,” he said. “The provost is the academic face of the University and can’t be seen as someone who ‘doesn’t get it.’”

Overall, most administrators and committee members stressed how difficult the job of provost can be.

“Personal qualities are important, but how difficult this job is — that’s what really stands out,” Earp said.


Staff writer Tim Longest contributed reporting.

Contact the University editor at udesk@unc.edu.