Attention: applicants wanted for Syracuse University Provost. Job requires overseeing nine colleges, managing an academic community of 10,000-plus students and doing a great deal of work while receiving minimal limelight.

The search is underway to find a replacement for Deborah Freud as provost and vice chancellor. The University Senate plans to have a search committee established as soon as this week. The committee will spend the next few months establishing guidelines, reviewing applications and ultimately submitting three names to Chancellor Nancy Cantor, who will make the final decision.

Despite the amount of influence the position wields and the influential role the new provost will play in the next phase of Syracuse’s expansion, the average student knows very little about the work the provost does.

‘(It’s) the person who is ultimately responsible for academic progress and the environment of the university,’ said Associate Provost Sandra Hurd.

Hurd chaired the committee that passed Freud’s name onto Chancellor Kenneth Shaw for approval as provost. Last time around, the chancellor wanted a candidate from outside the university, but this time a member of the current faculty will be selected.

The Provost’s primary duties include the day-to-day operation of the university, including budget planning, academic strategy planning, hiring, tenure approval and working closely with the deans of the colleges, said Hurd.

Bruce Carter, associate dean at the College of Human Services and Health Professions and chair of the Agenda Committee, said that the names of the proposed search committee members may have gone out as early as yesterday. Then the Senate will vote up or down on the entire list, which will follow federal guidelines for affirmative action.

The internal search provides a unique twist to the intricate politics of higher education. While the chair of a large department could be considered qualified, the position will likely be filled by someone at the dean level. The standard qualifications for applicants should include people skills, a big-picture mindset, experience with large organizations and an understanding of budgeting processes, said Hurd.

Two names that immediately jump to mind when thinking of possible applicants are interim-Provost Eric Spina and Dean of The College of Arts and Sciences Cathryn Newton.

Spina has been serving as interim-provost since July and had been preparing to do the job since mid-May when it became obvious Freud would be leaving. His experience as dean of the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science and his time already logged in as interim-provost make him a sound candidate.

Newton was recently added to the Chancellor’s cabinet and is the leader of the university’s largest college. Both are top-notch administrators and would likely shine in the behind-the-scenes post as provost.

I would like to see Dean David Rubin, of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, apply for the position. He has overseen the expansion of the Newhouse school and could continue overseeing the large-scale expansion that the university as a whole is experiencing. He runs the most highly-esteemed college at the university and could be instrumental to helping SU break the next barrier in the national rankings. While I have no insider-information that he has interest in the position, I think Rubin would be an immediate front runner.

SU is enormous and complex organization that needs strong leadership to oversee the move into the next tier of academia. In the meantime, the search committee has a lot of work to do, including writing a job description, screening and interviewing candidates and finally submitting three names to the chancellor, according to Carter.

‘We have great talent at this university,’ said Hurd, who would not speculate on possible candidates.

Hopefully she is right, because securing a provost for the long-term is the next step towards guiding SU towards becoming one of the top private universities in the northeast. The position is stressful, time consuming and instrumental to the daily life of faculty and students. But if the work is executed with skill and precision Syracuse will benefit from a new SU-raised provost.

Matt Reilly is a sophomore political science and public relations major whose columns run weekly. He can be emailed at msreilly@syr.edu.

Published on October 2, 2006 at 12:00 pm