Ithaca College

I would like to update the campus community on the process and timeline in the search for IC’s next Provost and Vice President for Educational Affairs.   As you know, this leadership position has overall responsibility for the quality of the educational experience in every dimension ranging from academic programs to residential and co-curricular life.

Ms. Julie Tea of AGB Search will assist us in the search process.  Ms. Tea will visit the IC campus next week, September 8 and 9, to solicit faculty, staff and student thinking on major aspects of the student educational experience to which the next provost must be attentive.  This will be the first Vice President for Educational Affairs we have hired, making it especially important to assemble broad feedback on the College’s future needs as well as the key traits of the provost who will lead this educational mission.  Ms. Tea will use this input to create a written search profile that outlines key institutional needs and priorities that can be shared with prospective candidates.

We have also completed the process of identifying members of the search committee.  That process involved receiving nominations from the Faculty Council, the Staff Council Executive Committee and the Student Government Association Executive Committee.  In addition, I consulted with the Faculty Council Executive Committee on all faculty members appointed.  That consultation resulted in my decision to expand the search committee from numbers originally planned by adding one faculty member and one staff member.  This expansion enables us to empanel a search committee that will be able to draw widely on faculty and staff perspectives from around the college.  The search committee is as follows: 

Co-chairs:

• Luke Keller, Professor and Chair; Physics and Astronomy
• Nancy Pringle, Vice President and General Counsel

Members:

• Duncan Duke, Assistant Professor; Management
• Peter Johanns, Associate Professor and Program Director; Media Arts, Sciences and Studies
• Shaianne Osterreich, Associate Professor; Economics
• Ayesha Patel, Class of 2015; Psychology
• Wade Pickren, Director; Center for Faculty Excellence and Sponsored Research
• Bonnie Prunty, Director of Residential Life & Judicial Affairs and Assistant Dean for First Year Experiences
• Sean Reilley, Program Coordinator; Recreational Sports
• Roger Richardson, Associate Vice President and Dean; Student Affairs and Campus Life
• Deborah Rifkin, Associate Professor; Music Theory, History and Composition
• Robert Sullivan, Associate Professor; Communication Studies
• Thomas Swensen, Professor and Chair; Exercise and Sport Sciences

Finally, I want to urge everyone to participate in the campus conversations on Monday and Tuesday concerning the key values and leadership traits in our next provost.  The times and places of those meetings have been announced in a separate Intercom posting by search committee co-chairs Keller and Pringle.  As preparation for those conversations, you might consider your thoughts on the following questions:

1. If you were trying to convince an outstanding prospect to become a candidate for the position of Provost and Vice President for Educational Affairs, what would you cite as some of the key attractions of the position?
2. If you were advising prospects as to the issues that must be addressed during the first year or two of tenure as Provost, what issues would you cite?
3. What qualifications, attributes or qualities do you consider important to a person’s ability to address the critical responsibilities of the office and be an outstanding Provost and VPEA at Ithaca College?
4. Fast-forward five years.  What would lead you to conclude at that point that the Provost and VPEA has been very successful?  What would be different at Ithaca College?

The search committee members and I truly value your perspectives and hope you will take the time to share your ideas.