SEMO HOPES TO FILL PROVOST POSITION BY NEXT SUMMER

Southeast Missouri State University hopes to hire a permanent provost by next summer to administer the school's academic division.

The academic duties are being handled by an interim provost, Dennis Holt.

It's a crucial job. On the organizational chart, the provost ranks second to the university president.

Speech professor Tom Harte ranks the job of provost as second to none.

"This is the most important job at the university," said Harte, who chairs the provost search committee. "This is the person who is in charge of the academic operation."

Harte said the university will begin advertising the job in October. The school will embark on a nationwide search.

Applications will be accepted this fall. The 10-member search committee hopes to have all the applications in by semester's end.

The committee then will narrow the search to at least three finalists, who would make visits to the campus.

"I think maybe we would bring in more than three," said Harte.

The visits likely would occur in February. Each finalist would spend two full days on campus.

The search committee then would recommend three finalists to university President Ken Dobbins.

Dobbins would make a recommendation to the Board of Regents, which would have the final say.

Harte said the university hopes to have a permanent provost in place by July 1.

"I think we will get a lot of applications," said Harte, who chairs the university's speech communication and theatre department.

"I think there are a lot of people who will find this an attractive job," he said.

"It is not quite the same as searching for a president, but it is the next best thing.

"It won't go unnoticed that the last several provosts we have had have gone on to jobs as presidents," said Harte.

He said the job of provost often is viewed as a steppingstone to a job as university president.

Charles Kupchella resigned as provost this summer to take a job as president of the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks.

He was hired in December 1992 as Southeast's provost following a national search that drew 106 applicants.

Kupchella was hired to replace Leslie Cochran, who left Southeast in 1992 to take a job as president of Youngstown State University in Ohio.

The university administration has made it clear that the latest search for a provost will be directed by the faculty as spelled out in the faculty handbook.

Dobbins said, "I am not putting any restrictions on the search. It is their search. They need to be satisfied."

Dobbins said he won't screen the candidates. That job will be left up to the committee.

"But when they come on campus, obviously I will be involved in the interview process," the president said.

Committee members include representatives of the faculty, colleges and deans, as well as an alumna of the school. Both the graduate school and the Polytechnic Institute are represented on the committee.

A student also serves on the search committee, which began meeting in late August.

Dobbins said the student will have a vote just like other members of the search committee.

The addition of a student as a voting member is a change from past provost searches, Dobbins said.

Students, he said, should have a voice in selecting the person who will run academic affairs.

Harte said the university needs a computer-literate provost who can help direct the development of the River Campus visual and performing arts school and the Polytechnic Institute. The institute handles the university's industrial technology program.

Dobbins said Southeast shouldn't have any trouble attracting topnotch applicants.

"We have an outstanding academic reputation. Our funding is very good," said Dobbins.

State funding for general operations at Southeast has risen 61 percent in eight years.

Growing enrollment, topping 8,800 students fall semester, also should be a drawing card, he said.