PROVOST CANDIDATES VISIT CAMPUS

Dr. Terrel Rhodes believes in striking a balance between teaching and scholarly research while Dr. Gordon Nelson wants to give students an opportunity to prepare for the global economy.

Both men are among the five finalists for provost at Southeast Missouri State University. Rhodes visited the campus earlier in the week; Nelson concluded his visit Thursday.

"I think part of what a provost does is try to help create or maintain some kind of balance," said Rhodes,

Rhodes is a special assistant to the provost for assessment at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.

Nelson is dean of the College of Science and Liberal Arts and professor of chemistry at Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne.

In a telephone interview Thursday, Rhodes said he tries to build on people's strengths.

Some faculty are more focused on classroom teaching while others are focused on scholarship and research. "I don't think one size can fit all, even though it has been quite successful in the garment industry," said Rhodes.

"There is an awful lot of valuable research and scholarship that can be done related to teaching," he said. "As a university, we have to be engaged in scholarship."

Rhodes defines scholarship broadly. He said it includes various outreach activities and community service.

"Scholarship is not just what came out of the laboratory and was published in a journal that nobody reads," he said.

Nelson suggests that building leadership among faculty and staff means developing partnerships with the community.

Not every faculty is best-suited for journal research; others are great at teaching larger groups of students. The university must develop the gifts of each individual instructor, Nelson said.

"We have to increase faculty and staff involvement in the local community," he said.

Rhodes said classroom teaching should remain a top priority for the institution.

"I would expect all faculty to be in the classroom in some degree or other," he said.

Nelson also wanted to develop a balanced workload for faculty but expects that everyone would teach, including each department chairman.

Rhodes said he views the job of provost as an advocate for faculty. "There is a built-in expectation that the provost will be the voice of the faculty and an advocate for the faculty."

A provost is primarily concerned with academics, but Rhodes said the office also is important in recruiting students. "No institution can rely solely on its admissions department to attract students," he said. "The best recruiters for an institution to attract new students are faculty and current students."

The university must develop partnerships with local schools to ensure that there is a continual flow of education for students. Students today arrive on campus less college-ready than their predecessors, Nelson said.

Colleges must be ready to train them and teach students what it takes to be successful in college so that they can in turn be successful in life.

Sometimes student issues with the institution "are not classroom issues but quality of life issues," he said. Having a union of academic affairs and student affairs helps make solving those problems easier, Nelson said.

Nelson hopes that Southeast could develop a partnership with other foreign universities so that there could be an exchange of both students and faculty.

"America is too insular. It's very critical for our students that they get to go to other countries," particularly if they intend to participate in a global economy, Nelson said.

Even in the United States, university faculty and staff should have exchanges and campus visits so they can talk to their colleagues and learn about different methods and techniques that could be applied locally, Nelson said.

Much like businesses compete for customers, universities have to compete for employees. Many universities are looking for staff because of faculty retirements and changes, Nelson said. Now is a great time to be a faculty looking to make a move, but not necessarily so great for a university looking to hire staff.

Rhodes said, "We respond to the market one way or another in every single hire we make."

Both men agree that Southeast has a lot of potential for growth, including development of the River Campus school for the visual and performing arts.

Rhodes is from the Midwest. He graduated from Indiana University in 1971 with a bachelor of arts degree in political science, history and Spanish. He received his master and doctorate degrees from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, in 1974 and 1980, respectively.

Nelson has been professor of chemistry and dean of the College of Science and Liberal Arts at Florida Institute of Technology since 1989.

He is a native of Palo Alto, Calif. and received an undergraduate degree from the University of Nevada at Reno. He earned his master's and doctorate degrees from Yale University in 1967 and 1970, respectively.