Provost Profiles

By Josh Carmel

Day by day Gettysburg College is changing, stepping forward into growth, as Abraham Maslow contended, and retreating from her contentious sanctuary of safety. The College has systematically instituted policies, some which have garnered praise and others which have been affronted, in an overarching attempt to both modernize and maintain the campus. Such instances have not only been evidenced by a change in Gettysburg’s programs, but also by the alteration of its administration.

The College has already witnessed one seminal change in its administrative configuration, marked by the inauguration of President Janet Morgan Riggs, and is currently in the process of facilitating another. The prospect of a new provost has persisted for several weeks, with candidates filtering in and out of the school, each evaluated by a Provost Search Committee co-chaired by President Riggs and Associate Professor of Political Science Bruce Larson.

“With the help of our search consultants,” wrote President Riggs, “we advertised the position widely, we invited nominations and applications, and our search consultants recruited individuals into our applicant pool whom they believed would meet the qualifications.”

The qualifications for provost, as outlined on the Gettysburg website, include: “[an] ability to articulate a dynamic vision for a residential liberal arts college, experience in innovative academic program development and implementation, leadership in college initiatives, a demonstration of strategic budget planning, and a collaborative, transparent management style.” These attributes aided in the Committee’s designation of 12 semifinalists, each of whom was subsequently interview off campus.

“We…read applications and finally narrowed the pool to 12 semifinalists,” wrote President Riggs, “whom we interviewed off campus. After extensive reference-checking, we agreed on 4 finalists for on-campus interviews. As part of the process, we collected input from many people who participated in these interviews… It’s been a careful and thoughtful process.”

The four finalists include: Christopher Zappe of Bucknell University, Kathleen Skerrett of Grinnell College, Patrick Reynolds of Hamilton College, and Carolyn Newton of Berea College. All were present at open forums on campus, ranging from January 15 to the 22 respectively, where both students and faculty members were in attendance.

Despite the relative transparency with which the Committee has orchestrated the provost search, questions still linger concerning the four tentative individuals, their current occupations, and their qualifications. As the Provost of Gettysburg College, each would be responsible for, as per the Gettysburg website, “nurturing and administering the College’s academic program and, with other members of the President’s Senior Staff, for advancing the institution and advocating for its Mission.”

The implications of this statement are both hefty and tedious, requiring an uncanny ability to moderate both student and administrative interests. The provost will report directly to the president and, as an essential figure in the administration, will be held accountable for the various academic programs of the College. An investigation, therefore, into the four finalists is wholly warranted.

Christopher J. Zappe

The first finalist on campus was Christopher Zappe. Zappe is the current Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Bucknell University, a prestigious educational institution in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. As per the Bucknell website, he earned his B.A. in Mathematics, with honors, from DePauw University in 1983 and both an M.B.A. and Ph.D. in Decision Sciences– a concoction of Philosophy, Mathematics, and Statistics– from Indiana University in 1987 and 1988 respectively. Prior to accepting a position at Bucknell, Zappe taught Decision Science courses in the College of Business Administration at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Between 1993 and 2002, as per the website, he taught modeling and analysis, and computer simulation in the Department of Management at Bucknell.

Additionally, Zappe has had an innovative career at Bucknell, both spearheading and teaching numerous interdisciplinary Capstone Experience courses and Foundation seminars for what Bucknell deems the “Common Learning Agenda.” Prior to holding his current position, Zappe was the Associate Dean of Faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences, where he was privy to hiring evaluations and accentuated faculty growth.

According to the Bucknell website, Zappe has worked closely with faculty from across the College and other administrators “to hire new tenure-track faculty and to prepare educational learning goals which guide teaching and learning across the Bucknell campus.”

“Too often,” writes Zappe in a message to Bucknell students, “we think of a student’s college education as preparation for a career, when actually it is preparation for adult life… We believe that a broad, liberal education is the best context for specialization and the best preparation for life in the 21 st Century.”

The goals of the Bucknell curriculum, provided by Zappe in the same message, include: intellectual maturity, thinking skills, broadened perspective, and responsibility and commitment.

Kathleen Skerrett

Subsequent to Zappe, Kathleen Skerrett arrived on campus. Skerrett is both the Associate Dean of the College and an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Grinnell College, a highly selective liberal arts institution in Grinnell, Iowa. Skerrett received a B.A. from Mount Allison University, an LL.B (Bachelor of Laws) from Dalhousie University, an M.T.S. (Master of Theological Studies) from Harvard Divinity School, and a Ph.D. from Harvard University.

In addition to her expansive curriculum vitae, and as per the Grinnell website, Skerrett both teaches and writes at a unique intersection between Christian theology, political theory, and law. Her essays include: “Practice and Improvise: A Christian Response to the Politics of Morality” and “Sex, Law, and other Reasonable Endeavors.”

Prior to her appointment as the Associate Dean of the College, Skerrett worked as the Chair of the Gender and Women’s Studies Concentration at Grinnell, and was both the Faculty Director of Garden Hall and the Chair of the University Task Force on First Year Experience at McGill University, giving her amble exposure to both administrative and student interaction. Additionally, Skerrett also taught Religious Studies at McGill.

Although Skerrett’s academic career is rife with awards, visiting lectureships, and conference papers, she also retains an equally impressive record of college service. Skerrett served on the Subcommittee on Teaching and Learning at McGill, the Student Life Committee at Grinnell College, the Subcommittee on Diversity, and was on the Advisory Board for the Office of Interdisciplinary Studies. Currently, Skerrett also works with the Grinnell Prisoner Education Program.

Patrick Reynolds

Following Skerrett, Patrick Reynolds next appeared on campus. Reynolds acts as the Associate Dean of Faculty at Hamilton College, another highly selective liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. He received his B.S. in Zoology from University College, Ireland’s second largest national university, and a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Victoria.

As the Dean of Faculty on campus, Reynolds works with Dean Joseph Urgo on matters, as Hamilton’s website stipulates, of the instructional budget, facilities, personnel and salary, and academic support services. Working at the proverbial juncture between administrative finance and policy, Reynolds is also complicit in academic advising with the Associate Dean of Students.

In conjunction with his other endeavors, Reynolds is also the chair of the Scientific Misconduct Review Board and pioneers summer research programs at Hamilton. As per Hamilton’s website, the academic support services that report to the Associate Dean include: The English for Speakers of Other Languages Program, Critical Languages, College Program Abroad, Health Professions and Summer Science Research, Oral Communication and Education Studies, Quantitative Literacy, Student Fellowships, and the Writing Center.

Additionally, Reynolds’s substantial workload is further bolstered by his presence as a Professor of Biology at Hamilton. His assorted responsibilities at the school suggest an ability to interact on both on student and administrative level, managing both budget and student proposals contemporaneously.

Carolyn Newton

The last individual on campus, but equally as capable of capturing the provost position, was Carolyn Newton. Newton is both the Academic Vice President and Provost of Berea College, a distinguished liberal arts work college in Berea, Kentucky. Newton received a B.S.in Biological Science from Colorado State University in 1973 and a Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo in Biophysical Sciences.

As both the Provost and Academic Vice President at Berea, Newton is responsible for, as per its website, coordinating programs, policies, funding, as well as assessing the performance of all departments and centers within the Academic Division of the College. This feat is compounded with Berea’s unique presence among educational institutions.

Berea College is qualified as a liberal arts work college for an unequivocally specific reason, and is thus distinctive among other collegiate establishments. The College, which was the first interracial and coeducation college in the South, charges no tuition and grants all students the equivalent of a full-tuition scholarship.

As per its website, Berea admits only academically promising students, primarily from Appalachia, who have limited economic resources. In addition to a rigorous spectrum of undergraduate courses, it is compulsory that all students work at least 10 hours per week in campus and service jobs in more than 130 departments.

As its primary academic figure, Newton has published several articles on Immunology, Cell Biology, Cell Physiology, and the Biology of Disease. She has acted as both an administrative and academic medium for both students and faculty alike.

The search for a new provost at Gettysburg College will labor on for a bit longer, as the Committee comparatively deliberates. The four aforementioned candidates, all qualified in their respective fields, have provided an expansive medley of experience, perspective, academic acumen, and administrative prowess, which both Gettysburg students and faculty eagerly await.

“The committee will meet in the near future to discuss the interviews and input from members of the campus community,” wrote President Riggs. “We on the search committee very much appreciate the time so many people took to participate in the on-campus interviews, and I appreciate the hard work and dedication of the search committee throughout the fall semester.”