A member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, Bemidji State University is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer and educator.

Academic and Student Affairs Organizational Awareness Seminar #1 September 2015

Overview Current organization BSU and academic affairs What is a provost/vpaa? o Pathway to provost o What provosts do o What do they think about o Why do they do want to do this Chat

Current organization Organizational chart content/uploads/sites/4/2014/06/VP- Academic-Affairs.pdf NTC

A provost is the senior academic administrator who acts in the absence of the president at many institutions of higher education in the United States and Canada, the equivalent of a pro-vice-chancellor at some institutions in the United Kingdom and Ireland or a Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at most Australian universities.academic administratorhigher educationpro-vice-chancellor What’s a Provost?

A member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, Bemidji State University is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer and educator. How’d this happen? Personal Pathway

Personal pathway BSU/NTC and Bob Griggs Northeastern State University and Don Betz University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and UW System Northern Michigan and California State University-Monterey Bay Dave Larkin and BSU Recruited to Utah State University From middle school to UW Platteville Middle School Teacher (7 years) USAF accounting Restaurant manager; UPS driver; paving crew; tobacco farm Ph.D. Educational Leadership, Miami Univ M.Ed. Administration/Writing, Utah State Univ B.S. Geography/English, Utah State Univ

A member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, Bemidji State University is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer and educator. What do provosts do?

Financial sustainability, planning Work with deans and AVPAA on: o College and departmental budgets o People, people, people o Contracts and grants Planning o Master academic o Facilities o IT o University strategic

Administration Colleges, schools, units Academic program approvals/CAO o Resources and processes Accreditation o Regional, state, national Teaching and learning Student success o Recruitment, retention, graduation Faculty/staff/administrator reviews

Partnerships and relationships Articulations o System/state o National o International International Community, state, region, national Intracampus/interdepartmental System

Protect the presidency and the university Community reputation of BSU o State recognition o Regional recognition o National/international recognition As directed/requested by the president

A member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, Bemidji State University is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer and educator. What do provosts think about?

2013 Survey of Provosts: Gallup for Inside Higher Education and-presidency-survey-provosts “Today's provosts are a skeptical lot. That may come with the territory, as they must constantly prioritize some ideas (and some people's careers) over others -- tasks that are never easy and have been made more challenging by the economic downturn.”

Tenure “Future generations of faculty in this country should not expect tenure to be a factor in their employment at higher education institutions.” The percentage agreeing or strongly agreeing: Public institutions: 58 percent (with community colleges at 68 percent) Private nonprofit institutions: 53 percent For-profit institutions: 87 percent

Non-tenure track “Provosts' Predictions on Their Institutions' Future Reliance on Those Off the Tenure Track” All Public Private Nonprofit For-Profit Expect less reliance 11% 11% 12% 8% Expect same level of reliance 66% 67% 64% 66% Expect greater reliance 23% 22% 23% 26%

Financial, unions, teaching “On other topics related to the faculty role at colleges and universities, some highlights of the survey:” Only 8 percent of provosts strongly agree that their faculty members understand the financial challenges facing their institutions. Only 3 percent of provosts strongly agree that faculty unions benefit higher education, with the figures 4 percent at public institutions (where many have faculty unions) and 2 percent at private institutions (where such unions are rare). This question received very high "strongly disagree" responses, with 45 percent strongly disagreeing with the statement. Relatively few provosts believe that faculty members can earn tenure based on research success if they are poor instructors. Only 2 percent strongly agreed and 5 percent agreed with that statement.

Provost job; president job “Across sectors, provosts agreed (most of them strongly) that their jobs have grown beyond academic affairs, with 51 percent strongly agreeing and only 1 percent strongly disagreeing that this shift had taken place. While provosts are clearly in no way shielded from the difficult economic choices facing many institutions, the survey results suggest that they don't necessarily long for the top job on campus, as once might have been the norm. Among all CAOs, 2/3 do not plan to pursue a president’s position. Average president tenure: 6.9 years; provost 4.7 years; dean 4 years. >80% of provosts are gone within 2 years of a new president’s arrival.

What keeps me awake Dichotomy of the future of higher education and practices/attitudes at BSU Resources/finances Perception of BSU People and lives Balancing everything

A member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, Bemidji State University is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer and educator. Why do this?

Passion for: People Community Learning Helping Improving Challenges Change Pace Never knowing what the day will bring

What do you need? Patience, timing and tolerance Flexibility and cultural astuteness Binocular view of the world Experience and a thick skin A grounding in democratic principles Ability to prioritize Ability to communicate Ability to decide An understanding family A personal life you can defer