NIU needs to find associate provost

By Jami Peterson

With the effects of NIU’s budget cut lingering on campus, the search for a new associate provost will not float by unaffected.

Associate Provost Lou Jean Moyer, who is completing her thirty-first year at NIU, has decided to throw in the towel and retire on June 30. And although cuts have made it difficult to hire new employees, NIU must find someone to fill Moyer’s shoes.

Moyer is on vacation and could not be reached.

NIU Provost Kendall Baker said he does not know exactly what impact the budget recision will have on the search. However, he said, it will definitely have an affect.

“We are very conscious of the cost of bringing people in for interviews,” Baker said.

The impact of the budget cut will not be known until candidates have applied for the position and been interviewed, he said. Applications will be accepted until March 9.

However, he said, “I am concerned with the availability of funds in this (the Provost’s) office to use for the search.”

Baker said a search committee has placed an advertisement in the Chronicle of Higher Education for the position. An associate provost primarily works with undergraduate curriculum and academic issues while serving as chair of the Undergraduate Coordinating Council.

“We want someone who will meet the challenge in a creative way,” Baker said.

English Department Chairman James Miller is serving on the search committee. He said the search is very important and should not be “shortsighted” because of the budget situation.

“It’s very important to take enough care to fill the position properly,” Miller said. The search would have been more “flexible” had the budget not been cut, he said.

Daniel Reynolds, acting associate dean in the College of Law, also is on the committee. He said the position is very important and has to be filled.

“(The budget cut) is certainly not going to make it easy,” Reynolds said.

Wayne Albrecht, assistant dean in the College of Business, said he believes the position will receive a great deal of interest from applicants.

Albrecht, a member of the search committee, said the committee is aware of problems the budget might cause. “There are concerns about an external search while we’re having a recision,” he said.

David Gonzalez was appointed by Student Association President Preston Came as student representative in the committee. Gonzalez, the adviser for the Student Policy, Education and Action Committee, said the budget was one of the committee’s main concerns.

The committee must be very careful in selecting who should be brought to campus for interviewing, Gonzalez said. “We have to find someone who is concerned with what students need and want.”