I am pleased to announce the members of the search committee for Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Francisco Diaz, Associate Vice President for Student Life
Jonnine DeLoatch, Director, Sophomore and Junior Experience
William Duffy, Head Reference Librarian, Cheng Library
Diane Falk-Romaine, Music, College of the Arts and Communication
Arlene Holpp-Scala, Women’s and Gender Studies, Faculty Senate Chairperson
Carrie Eunyoung Hong, Educational Leadership and Professional Studies, College of Education
Leo-Felix Jurado, Nursing, College of Science and Health
Loretta McLaughlin-Vignier, Associate Dean, College of the Arts and Communication
Priya Nagaraj, Economics, Finance, and Global Business, Cotsakos College of Business
Patrick Noonan, Director, Transfer Programs and Special Sessions
Robert Seal, Chief of Staff, President’s Office
Susanna Tardi, Sociology, President, AFT Local 1796
Johanna Torres, Director, Student Enrollment Services
Danielle Wallace, Africana World Studies, College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Martin Williams, Director, Sponsored Programs

I want to thank everyone who nominated themselves or a colleague for this important committee. Based on those nominations, we were able to compose a committee that is diverse in gender and race/ethnicity; each college and the Library has a faculty representative, in addition to the chair of the Faculty Senate and the president of the AFT; and staff members represent Academic Affairs, Student Development, and Enrollment Management. Two students will serve – an undergraduate and graduate student – to be confirmed soon. 

The Committee will have two co-chairs. Robert Seal, Chief of Staff, will serve as co-chair, and the other co-chair will be a faculty member elected from among the college representatives on the Committee. The Committee will begin its deliberations in early September and work throughout the fall semester to review curricula vitae and determine candidates to interview.

We will be working with Dr. Sharon McDade, principal from Greenwood, Asher & Associates, Inc., an executive search consultant in higher education, on this search. Dr. McDade worked with the search committee for president last year, and we are pleased that she will be able to continue to help us find the best qualified candidates for this position. Dr. McDade has a strong working knowledge of William Paterson University and will capitalize on that knowledge as she recruits for our next provost.

We have been working over the summer to put together a schedule for the fall and spring semesters, with the intention of having on-campus interviews in late January 2019. There will be many opportunities for all members of the University community to meet with each finalist during the two-day interviews. I hope to announce an appointment in mid-February, beginning no later than July 1, 2019.

Please hold two very important dates on your calendar for early September 2018 – Dr. McDade will be on campus to hold faculty forums, soliciting feedback on the desired attributes of the next provost. Those forums will be held on Thursday, September 6, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in Cheng Library Auditorium, and Friday, September 7, 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. in the Valley Road Cafe. If you cannot attend on these dates, we will design a webpage that includes a feedback mechanism for you to post confidential comments. This webpage will also provide an update on where we are in the search process.

I look forward to the work of the search committee on the University’s behalf, and hope all members of this community actively engage in this process.