On Tuesday at the Faculty Senate meeting, President Lou Anna K. Simon announced the decision to recommend Acting Provost Youatt to the Board of Trustees for its approval.
The trustees are expected to vote on the mat at their April 22 meeting.
Youatt has been acting provost since January 2013, shortly after former provost Kim Wilcox announced his resignation before officially stepping down in July 2013.
During the intermediate time between provosts, the university searched for candidates. The criteria they were looking for, Simon said, was someone with “the capacity to lead, to listen, and then to make the informed judgements in a timely fashion.”
Simon said Youatt fits all criteria.
“Often times you’ll get one or two of those, but not all three of them together, and that’s a great tribute to (Youatt’s) style and approach,” Simon said.
The university provost is the head of all academic affairs at MSU. The position includes curriculum oversight, enrollment, recruitment and faculty affairs.
Youatt has been competing against four other candidates for the position.
While the position presents many challenges, Youatt said shaping the future and moving the university forward through the daily task of academic excellence is the next step.
“The challenge and excitement in the next few years will involve recognizing and building on all the opportunities that will be ours at Michigan State University,” Youatt said in a statement. “For all we’ve accomplished, there is so much more we can do and be. It’s such a privilege to step into the role of provost at this time and help shape that future.”
At the meeting, Youatt said in the past 18 months MSU has been on the national and world stage with high-profile events, such as opening the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum and breaking the ground at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams.
She said it has created a momentum behind the university that it now must capitalize on.
“All of these things create tremendous opportunity and tremendous visibility, but we have to align our efforts then behind them,” she said.
