“I’m excited about joining the team,” Gaboury said of his new co-workers at MSU. “It’s a very good group of people.”

This associate provost position directly oversees the offices of financial aid, registrar and admissions, as well as MSU’s library system, curriculum, academic program review and commencement, among other things.

Gaboury said he is pleased with the leadership in the offices and departments that he will oversee, and that the strong foundation will help him as he transitions into his new position.

“As I look to the future, it’s really about taking things to the next level and improving services for students,” Gaboury said.

“Everyone seems excited about doing that and has demonstrated over the years that they’re willing to do that.”

Gaboury has worked at the University of Toledo since 2002 and currently serves as the executive director of learning ventures and academic services. Gaboury succeeds Linda Stanford, who has been in the position since 2002. She will fully retire in 2015.

“Although no one can replace Dr. Stanford, John Gaboury will be joining us in just a couple of weeks,” Acting Provost June Youatt said to the Steering Committee last week. She also announced Gaboury would take over the position at the meeting.

The offices of the Registrar and Admissions are excited to work with Gaboury, officials said.

“We’re always excited to have an opportunity to work with new people,” said Jim Cotter, director of admissions. “We’re excited about the arrival of Gaboury — he’s a bright man and we look forward to working with him.”

Cotter meets with Gaboury regularly, and they talk on the phone almost daily; he said the new associate provost is doing a lot of learning and working on getting up to speed on MSU practices.

Gaboury asks essential questions about why processes and procedures work the way they do, and that leads to great conversations, Cotter said.

University Registrar Nicole Rovig said she’s excited to work with Gaboury because of his strong academic perspective and diverse background.

“He’ll be able to draw things from his experience and align it with what’s happening here,” she said.

She added that the position is very important to MSU, and it needs someone who is a visionary and has an understanding of the university.

So far Gaboury is getting a sense of the landscape, office functions and culture of MSU so that he has a foundation to work from when he starts, Rovig said.

He’ll be aided by the fact that the directors of many of the main offices he’ll be overseeing — admissions, financial aid and registrar — each have a few years under their belts, and the offices are running smoothly, she said.