First provost candidate makes first impression
Producing graduates who are both service-oriented and in high demand are among the goals of one of the candidates for provost and executive vice president at Utah State University.
Ovid A. Plumb, one of three candidates for provost and executive vice president, spoke to a group of USU faculty, staff, students and alumni Thursday in an open forum in the Eccles Conference Center.
Plumb said he would like to see USU become a “21st century land-grant university,” which would provide students a chance to gain international experience, connect students with the state and businesses through internships and conduct far-reaching research.
Plumb said accomplishing these goals would require strong leadership and a definite plan of action that would be referred to and followed continuously instead of being put on a shelf and looked over every five years. Plumb said he would like to see a “soft structure” or task force created in addition to the traditional department head/dean structure.
Plumb said soft structures provide an environment which allows students, faculty and staff an opportunity to have input in university decisions. Soft structures allow a university to quickly address problems, Plumb said, providing for “agile decision making.”
Plumb said one of the plans he would implement as provost at USU would involve marketing of the university. Public universities like USU often try to be good at everything, Plumb said, and that is not possible. He said USU needs to “point to areas of excellence” in order to distinguish itself between the competition.
The honors program is one area Plumb said he would use to distinguish USU from competing universities. “The honors program is the key in getting excellent students to the university,” Plumb said.
In addition to the honors program, Plumb said he would like to give students an opportunity to spend time abroad and gain international experience, something he said was vital for students entering today’s global economy.
Plumb said in his work for the University of Wyoming he developed a program that allowed students in the College of Engineering, of which he is currently dean, to spend a semester abroad studying and earning school credit, then a semester in an internship. This gave graduates an edge, Plumb said.
In addition to describing his vision for USU, Plumb gave his thoughts on the role of a provost in the 21st century. He said “leadership is intrinsic to the role of a 21st century provost.”
Plumb said interacting with external constituencies is important for a provost. A provost needs to be involved with the legislature and fundraising, Plumb said. Interaction with the community is also important, Plumb said, and land grant universities such as USU need to evaluate whether activities they have engaged in to help the community in the past are still effective in a more urbanized society. USU has a presence throughout the state through extensions, Plumb said, and it is important to find out critical community needs and see if the university could help meet these needs.
Plumb and two others are finalists for the position of provost and executive vice president, selected from a national pool of applicants. The position of provost and executive vice president has been vacant since Stan Albrecht was named president of USU in January. The other candidates, Raymond Thomas Coward and Belinda R. McCarthy will visit and interview at USU later in September.
-dmaxfield@cc.usu.edu