In early August, a few weeks before classes began for the University of New Hampshire’s 2024 fall semester, UNH President Elizabeth Chilton, finishing out her first month as new UNH’s president, announced in an “August Update” that Wayne Jones, after six and half years in the position, would be stepping down as the Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at the end of the year.
After this announcement, a 14-person Provost Search Committee was convened in the following weeks, co-chaired by the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Michele Dillon, and the Chair of the Faculty Senate, Professor Jeffrey M. Halpern.
As the 2024 fall semester draws to a close, the search for UNH’s next Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs continues, projected to extend into the 2025 spring semester.
Michele Dillon, co-chair of the Provost Search Committee, has stressed that the search is a process that “takes time” but has progressed “in a smooth manner” without any significant delays.
“Trying to find time is always the most challenging with these sorts of situations because we want to make sure…everyone, or at least as many as possible from the committee, can be truly present,” said Dillon, adding that “we want that committee conversation to have as many voices as possible.”
Although the choice for who would be Provost would ultimately fall to President Chilton, this search committee was tasked with determining what the UNH community wanted from their next provost. In order to hear from the UNH community, the committee held “listening sessions” in late September and early October. Isaacson, Miller, the recruitment firm hired to aid in the ongoing search and generate a “pool of exceptionally well-qualified candidates,” drafted a job description for the position in response to what they heard in these sessions.
In addition to providing background on UNH, the official job depiction from Isaacson, Miller, lays out the key attributes that will be looked for in UNH’s next provost, saying that “serving as the deputy to the President, the successful provost candidate will have significant administrative leadership experience, deep familiarity with academic budgeting and planning processes, skill in communicating and connecting with key constituents internally and externally, and the capacity, courage, and decisiveness for strategic and well-informed decision-making.”
Ultimately, the search committee will narrow down the hiring pool to three or four finalists. Dillon expects these finalists to be brought to campus during the spring semester to participate in “public forums” to meet the UNH community.
Tasked with overseeing the upkeep of an institution’s academics, the provost is “a very important position… whose primary duty is to ensure the success of the academic mission,” according to Dillon.
Giving some insight into the variety of tasks expected of a provost, former Provost Wayne Jones described the position as “the chief academic officer of the university, overseeing the College Deans and faculty, as well as enrollment, advising, and other student success efforts such as CaPS [Career and Professional Success], and Research,” adding that they also have “university-wide responsibilities on the President’s Cabinet and for the University System of New Hampshire [USNH],” he said.
However, the role of the next provost will vary slightly from that of its predecessor due to an administrative restructuring: the Dean of Student Life Kenneth Holmes will now report to the President instead of the Provost; a change which Dillion says will allow the Provost to “really focus on the academic mission [of UNH].”
Additionally, the next provost will work with the newly hired Executive Vice President for Administration and Finance, Aaron Howell.
When reflecting on his time as the Provost, Wayne Jones discussed how he and President Chilton came to a mutual decision regarding his former position.
“Serving UNH as provost has been a privilege and a great experience for me… I conveyed my intentions to seek the next level of university leadership to President Chilton when she arrived on campus, [and] we mutually agreed she would initiate the search for her long-term provost that will serve her and the university for years to come,” said Jones.
Due to Jones stepping down as provost in October, Dean of the College of Engineering and Professional Sciences (CEPS), Cyndee Gruden, has taken over as the interim provost until the position is filled.
