On October 13, Saint Xavier University President Laurie M. Joyner, Ph.D., announced preliminary details to move forward and begin the search process for their next provost.
This comes as Michael Marsden, Ph.D., will no longer serve as SXU’s Interim Provost following the next academic school year.
In an October 13 email sent out to campus community members, Joyner recognized that Marsden “has contributed greatly to Saint Xavier and our academic enterprise during his year with us.” She expresses the community’s heartfelt gratitude, wishing him all of the best in his future endeavors.
Dr. Scott Flanagan, a senior search consultant and executive coach with academic search, will assist SXU with the search process.
Joyner said, “Dr. Flanagan has successfully led searches at nearly every cabinet-level position in academic leadership for institutions of various size and scope.”
She continued: “Throughout his career, Dr. Flanagan has served on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU).”
As chairman of the Dominican Higher Education Consortium, Flanagan is the president of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) alongside being president of Edgewood College from 2014 to 2019.
Another university search consultant is Bethany Zeche Sutton. Sutton is a notable member of the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) and a leadership coach and faculty fellow from the HERS Leadership Institute.
Sutton’s extensive experience includes facilitating searches for leadership in various college institutions while having 17 years of service in higher education. Flanagan will join Sutton to oversee the search committee membership team.
In the process of selecting a new provost, Flanagan and Sutton will take a pre-search visit with a range of constituents in four campus groups. These would include the Senior Leadership Team, Faculty Senate, Staff Council, and Student Government Association leadership.
Aligned with prior senior searches, Joyner mentioned in her email statement that “the size and composition of the Provost Search Committee is broad and inclusive.” Therefore, 12 individuals will serve on the Provost Search Committee.
In the effort to complete the search, members of the SXU community, including Student Government Association President Nada Alaraj and other program directors, will be included. In addition, select associate professors from the Graham School of Management and the School of Nursing and Health Sciences are to participate, especially Interim Dean Bindu Allappat, Ph.D. of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Dan Klotzbach, MBA, CFO, and Vice President for Finance and Administration, and Mary Tiberg, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor from the Nursing School, will co-chair the provost search.
The next steps in the search consist of developing a draft leadership profile for the provost. The candidate will continue to be informed by constituent feedback once a broad-based advertising plan is established. Joyner feels it would be necessary to “build a deep and diverse talent pool.”
Joyner further noted that hiring a ‘highly qualified’ provost will reflect solely on how the university “will build on our strong momentum for the benefit of our students and community.”
Joyner praised co-chairs Klotzbak and Tiberg, saying she is ‘grateful’ for their leadership. She also gave thanks to all committee members for their time and dedication.
Community members will be provided with updates regarding the search ‘as appropriate,’ as stated in the email. People are also encouraged to please share their thoughts with representatives of the Faculty Senate, Staff Council and SXU’s institutional committees.
Those who wish to be part of this collaborative search process have the option to send feedback by contacting provostsearch@sxu.edu.
About Post Author
