MSU searches for new vice provost of graduate education

Dean of the Graduate School Deborah Haynes is retiring on June 1, and MSU is currently looking for her replacement.

A series of open forums was held last Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday as part of the ongoing search.

Three candidates from universities across the country presented ideas to a search committee on how to address current issues facing graduate schooling. Topics included student stipends, communications between students and faculty and the effects of artificial intelligence on graduate education.

“[The position] was previously titled as dean of the Graduate School, but we are reorganizing to fit this position within the provost’s office — hence the change to a vice provost title,” said Provost Robert Mokwa.

“The provost is the top academic officer at the University,” said Vice Provost Durward Sobek. “He’s on the president’s executive team, and the deans of all the colleges report to him. Vice provosts are kind of like staff persons for the provost.”

This new role of vice provost will help MSU achieve its strategic goals of increasing the quality of graduate education, graduate student success rates and graduate student enrollment, according to Mokwa.

“This position will play a critical role in that, along with helping our current graduate students succeed, whether that’s in the classrooms, in laboratories and studios, or in making connections to find careers after graduation,” he said.

The first candidate forum featured Angela Lueking, the former vice chancellor for research and dean of the graduate school at Montana Technological University, where she led a reinvigoration of graduate education, according to the MSU website.

Robert Peterson, the candidate at the second forum, is a professor of entomology and department head of Land Resources & Environment at MSU, a position he has held since 2022, according to the MSU website.

The final forum featured Bruce Fouke, who holds the Ralph E. Grim endowed professorship in the Department of Earth Science and Environmental Change at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, according to the MSU website.

According to Mokwa, last week’s forums were one of the final steps in the hiring process. “The search has followed the typical process, including a recruitment phase that produced a strong pool of candidates, followed by screening by our search committee and then on-campus interviews and public forums for three finalists,” he said.

The candidates must have a doctorate from an accredited institution and an exemplary record of research activities, teaching, administrative experience and service, as well as a record of positive staff and personnel relations, according to the position profile on MSU’s website.

The new vice provost should also be a source of good ideas and innovation according to Sobek. The best way to see that is by looking at their past accomplishments.

“What kinds of things have they done? Has it been innovative, or have they just been in that role for 15 years and not much has changed?” he said.

According to Sobek, it is important that the new vice provost address concerns about graduate stipends.

“I’d love to work on paying our graduate students quite a bit better than what we’re doing now,” he said. “We’re restricted by recent availability of funds.”

Policies held by the vice provost will directly impact graduate students, making student-to-faculty communication even more important, according to Sobek.

“I would really like this next vice provost to set up some sort of student advisory council made up of current graduate students so that there’s good communication between the graduate school and the student body population.”

The chosen candidate for vice provost will start on July 1, according to the MSU website.