Last provost candidate pitches skills at university

The last of five provost candidates visited Southeast Missouri State University on Thursday for campus interviews and meetings with faculty, staff and students as the university looks to hire its next chief academic officer.

Karl Kunkel, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of sociology and justice studies at Pittsburg State University in Kansas, participated in open forums at Academic Hall, where he discussed why he wants to work at Southeast and answered questions from the audience.

Kunkel has been looking at the position of provost as a possible job route for a while, he said, and is involved in a becoming-a-provost academy and has read provost handbooks and attended seminars.

"One thing I have learned is that you don't want to -- it would be a dire career mistake, and you'll be very unhappy or very unsuccessful -- if you become a provost at a place where you're not a good fit," he said.

The provost needs to fit in with the culture and the institution and see eye-to-eye with where the institution is going and where it is, he said, adding he isn't applying for provost jobs nationwide but is looking for a university where he feels he would be a good fit.

"I was really excited about coming here to Southeast Missouri State for a number of reasons," he said. "First of all, I am a public comprehensive university person."

He has spent his entire career working for regional comprehensive universities, he said, including Missouri State University in Springfield, where he previously served as head of the Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology Department.

Kunkel said the value added by a public comprehensive university for people in the region is extraordinary.

When a first-generation student comes to the university from a rural area, the university is where he or she can start becoming a global citizen and have experiences outside that rural area, he said.

"In terms of changing and transforming lives, public comprehensives are where it's at," he said.

While looking at Southeast's strategic plan, he felt it was apparent the university is focused on students and student success, Kunkel said, and that also attracted him to the position.

Kunkel added he has an understanding of Missouri politics and the state's Coordinating Board for Higher Education.

He grew up in St. Louis and attended the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he earned a Ph.D. in sociology in 1989.

"The idea of being a provost at a Missouri state public school is also very exciting to me," he said. "I'm very comfortable in Missouri. I understand the funding mechanisms, the challenges that are faced. Those are all reasons I find this job very attractive. It's not that I'm looking for any job; I'm looking at this job."

When asked what he would change about Southeast, Kunkel said it wasn't his place to come in and say what he would change.

"The important thing for me, if I were to get this job, is to learn and talk to people, figure out why things are done the way they're done, what I recognize and what I don't recognize," he said.

"... My leadership philosophy is facilitating the good work of others."

Southeast formed a provost search committee soon after April 8, when William Eddleman announced his plan to step down as the university's chief academic officer June 1 and return to the faculty until Jan. 1, when he will retire.

The university received about 110 applications for the position, and 11 candidates were selected for interviews in St. Louis.

Southeast hopes to have the position filled by January.

klamb@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3639

Pertinent address:

One University Plaza, Cape Girardeau, Mo.