Admit it. You had no idea USM had a provost until you saw his picture in The Free Press. You still have no idea what his job is. You’re not the only one. Talk of Provost Joseph Wood’s self-created Research Initiative placed him in the University spotlight recently, prompting some students to wonder who the provost is, and what he does.
Q: What does the title Provost mean?
A: Well, in reality it’s a longer title than just that. [It is] “Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost” but I always tell people that I’m the person that does the welcome when the President can’t [laughs]. I say that because I’m the Academic Vice President…the person who’s responsible when the president is unavailable.
Q: So in comparison to the President, you’re the “go-to-guy” for University-wide academics?
A: Yes, in regards to Academic Affairs, which makes up about two-thirds of the institution. My job is half-spent protecting the integrity of the academic endeavor and half-spent supporting the traditions and values of the University.
Q: You’re in charge of that entire two-thirds?
A: Yes. I make administrative academic decisions for all eight colleges on all three campuses. The deans report to me. Various programs such as the Russell Scholars and the Honors programs, the Women’s Studies Program, all those directors report to me. We work together to create an academic framework within each division of the University. I determine degree programs, manage them and cut them as necessary. I’m also responsible for research endeavors. The Director of the Research Initiatives, the Office of Sponsored Programs, the Research Institutes all report back to me.
Q: Have the five years you’ve spent at USM been productive five years for you professionally?
A: Certainly. With the development of the USM plan for National Recognition for Regional Excellence to the current re-vamping of the core-curriculum, I feel I’ve made a lot of progress toward bringing the University up to its potential.
Q: Did you come to USM and say “There’s some potential here, but we’re not meeting it?”
A: Yes and no. Part of what drew me here was the level of established success and the obvious potential the University had for more. The President asked me early on to produce a vision statement for the school, this National Recognition for Regional Excellence USM Plan. We’re working on a few distinctive parts at first, such as re-structuring the core curriculum, to make the whole . . . a better learning environment overall. Our goal is to increase the University’s scholastic, creative and research capabilities through various assessments and initiatives. The current year-long research capability assessment is an example of that.
Q: In regards to the research, scholarship and creative initiatives happening at USM right now, how involved are you with them?
A: I’m the person who’s primarily responsible.
Q: Was it your brainchild?
A: Yes. Both initiating it and carrying it through. It will also be my responsibility to handle the reports after they’re generated and try to bring the outcome of them to the faculty level so they too can become involved in the growth of the University. Let’s face it, the faculty are truly the ones who own the curriculum. It’s appropriate for them to say what the curriculum should accomplish. It’s my job to provide them with the means to do that.
Q: Do you also assist in the selection and hiring of professors?
A: I make all faculty appointments and re-appointments and I also make recommendations to the President for tenure appointments. I interview potential department chairs and deans and while I don’t hire them I do take recommendations from the search committee and make a decision as to whether or not I agree with their decision.
Q: Your biography says that you are a geographer. Do you teach any classes here at USM?
A: I sure do. I teach one per year. Last fall it was GEO 310, History of Geographic Thought.
Q: Why do you keep teaching when you have such a demanding and important position as provost?
A: It keeps me in touch with the academic life at USM. What professors are doing, what they are seeing, what students are like, what they need. I was hired on as provost here, but I’m an appointed faculty member. If I ever stopped being provost, I would return to being faculty. I like teaching. It keeps me aware and really, it helps me with my job as provost.
Q: Your bio also mentioned your experiences teaching in China, Cambodia and Vietnam earlier in your career. Do you apply any of that “world classroom” philosophy to your academic goals at USM?
A: I do. USM is lucky to have both a diverse student body and a multi-cultural faculty. We pride ourselves on opening the world up to our students here at home by providing them with a culturally diverse staff to teach classes. We open the world to them literally by providing the opportunity for varied and flexible study-abroad programs all over the world in all forms of study. Diversity is extremely important to myself and USM’s administration.
Q: Are there any other facets of the University that you find yourself particularly proud of?
A: I like to brag about the faculty. Their level of scholarship, the attention to teaching. We work hard to support them in their academic and research endeavors. We want to try and ensure their continued success in the classroom. Secondly, though it might be hard to brag about the campus facilities as I’m sure my geography colleagues in Bailey Hall will attest to, we have made major strides in that area recently. The new science building, the parking garage, the re-structuring of the library. . . [there has been] a lot of growth in a very short period of time. Lastly, I’m very proud of the College of Education. It is nationally visible. We have restructured the program to the point where we are creating some of the finest teachers in the country who are setting the pace for the national standard of teaching. It’s an amazing program.
Q: I have one last question, albeit a selfish one. In light of the growth of various departments and changes in core-curriculum and various majors, how come there is no journalism major at the University?
A: Because there was no full-time hired professor/journalist.
Q: Well, hire one! Many of us in the English department were miffed when it was announced there would be a new full-time poet but no journalist. Journalists have to blaze their own career path at USM, a daunting task to say the least.
A: [laughs] Well, we haven’t hired a poet just yet. We have hired a full-time journalist who will start in the fall. Together we intend to discuss the development of a major. Journalism is changing. Even the big-time journalism schools are re-assessing their methods of teaching the profession. We want to amass knowledge about the best way to produce the best journalists and implement that plan at USM before we announce the major. Don’t worry, it’s coming.