A search is underway to fill the position of senior associate provost, with plans to have a candidate selected by the end of this semester, university officials said.
The senior associate provost will assist Provost Kim Wilcox in implementing university initiatives and managing academic colleges, departments and units.
A committee, comprised of three deans, one school director, a faculty member and an administrator, already has met once to begin looking at about 12 possible candidates, said Donna Zischke, MSU's associate director for academic human resources.
But rather than looking nationwide, the search is only open to faculty and administrators within the MSU community, Wilcox said.
"I'm interested in someone who understands Michigan State — understands the campus, the organization and the goals," Wilcox said.
Qualifications for the position include effective communication skills, the ability to work collaboratively and having tenured status, which is an indefinite faculty appointment with MSU.
"The person in this role needs a very broad view of the university and a capacity to learn and address issues across a broad scope," said Bob Banks, assistant provost and assistant vice president for academic human resources.
Banks added that the candidates come from several different areas within the university.
The search committee will continue to meet over the next several weeks to review candidates' credentials, including their strengths and weaknesses for the position, before submitting a report to Wilcox by the end of this term, Wilcox said.
He then will make a recommendation for the position to MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon. If Simon agrees with the recommendation, she will refer the appointment to the MSU Board of Trustees, which will confirm the position, Wilcox said.
Simon was the last person to have the role of senior associate provost, which was titled "associate provost" when she took the position in 1986, she said.
"The major responsibilities were around budget and financial issues and program reviews," Simon said. "Things are a bit different now."
Instead of replacing the position when she became acting provost in 1992, the duties of associate provost were distributed among the provost's staff, she said.
"One of the things the search committee was very clear about to Provost Wilcox and myself was that it was important to add that position (of senior associate provost) and add additional support to the provost's office to make it more accessible to the faculty," Simon said.
The appointment of a senior associate provost is the second of three parts in Wilcox's plan to fill administrative positions in his office since he assumed the role of provost on Aug. 1.
John Hudzik's appointment in December as the vice president for Global Engagement and Strategic Projects marked the first stage of Wilcox's plan.
The search for the third position — an associate provost for human health issues — has not yet begun, but Wilcox said he plans to move forward with the search soon.
