Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 29, 1994 TAG: 9411290093
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Peggy S. Meszaros and four other scholar-candidates from around the country will each be on campus for 21/2 days of interviews over the next two weeks.
Just when one of the candidates might receive an offer remains undecided. Dean of Forestry Gregory Brown is standing by to step in as interim provost Jan. 1 if the need arises, said Tech President Paul Torgersen.
Besides Meszaros, the candidates are:
Mark S. Auburn, executive vice president at the University of Akron
Dagmar Cronn, dean of the College of Sciences at the University of Maine
Mark A. Emmert, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Montana State University in Bozeman
Anne H. Hopkins, vice president for arts, sciences and engineering at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis
Meszaros served as dean of the University of Kentucky's College of Human Environmental Sciences before coming to Tech on Aug. 1, 1993.
Asked about the unusually large slate of women candidates, Torgersen said: "I think there's an interest in hiring the best qualified person. We're anxious to bring to the university as provost the most qualified person, independent of gender."
Robert Bates, Tech's dean of arts and sciences who has headed the search committee since summer, said the group has talked to "a very strong applicant pool," and echoed Torgersen: "This is not a deliberate attempt" to recruit a woman provost.
"One can't really interpret more than that, except generally in higher education there is an attempt to bring women into upper administrative posts," Bates said.
The search committee began its hunt for departing Provost Fred Carlisle's replacement last summer with 151 nominations and applicants. Twelve, including another internal candidate Bates declined to name, recently were interviewed in Pittsburgh, Pa. That group was narrowed to the five candidates to be interviewed on campus, although the semifinalists remain under active consideration until a final selection is made, Bates said.
Meanwhile, Brown, if appointed, could serve as interim provost anywhere from a few weeks to six months. He has previously served as acting vice president for academic affairs at the University of Maine. He said he would expect to oversee this winter's university promotion and tenure process and internal budgetary issues related to the General Assembly session.
"Otherwise, I think it's going to be keeping the house from day to day," he said.
Carlisle, considered a champion of diversity on campus, announced his resignation at the end of April. He will take a sabbatical beginning Jan. 1, and will return to teach literature in the English department. Carlisle has spearheaded the universitywide restructuring effort that has been under way in recent months.
Of the new provost, Torgersen said: "We're looking for someone to provide academic leadership for the university. I'd like to see restructuring efforts continue; on the other hand, I would like to think most of the [budget] cuts have been made."
by CNB