For professors who have risen through the ranks of academic administration, serving as provost lets them broaden their reach. Provosts set an institution’s academic vision, supervise deans, oversee accreditation, create strategic plans, and manage budgets, among other things. It’s also a job with cachet on campus. The provost, second in command, is widely recognized as having a job that is a steppingstone to other high-profile positions, particularly a college presidency.
In more ways than one, the provost’s role is a pivotal one, and even more so at the sprawling academic enterprises that are the nation’s top research institutions

June, Audrey Williams

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The Provost\u27s Path: How More Than 200 Scholars Reached the Top Academic Job on Campus, and Where They Went Next

Indiana University Bloomington Maurer School of Law

Maurer School of Law: Indiana UniversityDigital Repository @ Maurer LawLauren Robel (2002 Acting; 2003-2011) Law School Deans1-13-2019The Provost's Path: How More Than 200 ScholarsReached the Top Academic Job on Campus, andWhere They Went NextAudrey Williams JuneFollow this and additional works at: https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/robelPart of the Higher Education Administration Commons, and the Legal Education CommonsJanuary 12, 2019chronicle.com/interactives/provostThe Provost's PathBy Audrey Williams June and Dan BaumanJanuary 13, 2019In 2011, Lauren Kay Robel had to make a critical career-related decision: Did she want toserve as Indiana University at Bloomington’s interim provost?After almost a decade as dean of the law school, Robel was open to giving the chief-academic-officer job a try. But first, Robel recalled, she needed more information aboutwhat, exactly, a provost does.Indiana U. BloomingtonLauren Kay Robel (right, at a teaching-awards ceremony in 1988)joined Indiana U. at Bloomington in 1985 and served  as dean of the law school beforebeing named as the permanent provost in 2012.She said yes, and the job itself proved to be the best teacher.1/13"It was a steep learning curve — and I had been on this campus for 20-odd years," saidRobel, who earned her law degree at Indiana and then, after a two-year stint as a lawclerk, started her academic career there in 1985 as an assistant professor.She came to see that being a provost was very different from her former job. As a dean,she could call on expertise in her discipline and intimate knowledge of a single unit oncampus, and could more easily build relationships, which allowed her to manage downand up. There was also a built-in cohort of people on campus doing that job — otherdeans — whom she could consult for advice.Being provost, though, meant she had to be responsible for the campus beyond the lawschool. For example, she had to learn about the research needs of scientists and toeducate herself on the undergraduate curriculum, a subject she hadn’t had to think aboutvery much in her professional life before then.Indiana U. BloomingtonLauren RobelAfter five months as interim provost, Robel was named permanently to the post in 2012.She was, and still is, encouraged by what she says is at the core of the job. "The thingthat’s wonderful about the provost position is that it really lets you be the voice foracademics and academic values on a campus," she said.For professors who have risen through the ranks of academic administration, serving asprovost lets them broaden their reach. Provosts set an institution’s academic vision,supervise deans, oversee accreditation, create strategic plans, and manage budgets,2/13among other things. It’s also a job with cachet on campus. The provost, second incommand, is widely recognized as having a job that is a steppingstone to other high-profile positions, particularly a college presidency.In more ways than one, the provost’s role is a pivotal one, and even more so at thesprawling academic enterprises that are the nation’s top research institutions.The job also has inherent personal and professional tensions.The nature of provosts’ work — creating an environment for scholarly and academicexcellence — can make it appealing. It allows them to realize a wider impact than they’dotherwise have on an institution they care deeply about. But it’s also a position that cantrigger an identity crisis, which, in turn, can affect their career trajectories. While provostscan maintain ties with the ranks of the faculty, the job often leaves some of them feelingthat they’re on the margins of the once-familiar rhythms of academic life.3/13To learn more about the career paths of the people who have been chief academicofficers at such campuses, The Chronicle collected information on 201 current and formerprovosts who filled that job on a permanent or interim basis at the 60 Americaninstitutions that are members of the Association of American Universities. The Chronicle’sanalysis of that data provides a snapshot of the group of provosts at some of the nation’smost influential institutions over a 10-year period ending last summer.Among the findings: Three out of four provosts were male, and the group as a whole wasoverwhelmingly white — a racial distribution that mirrors the faculty ranks that serve as apipeline for the post. Roughly half of the provosts earned Ph.D.s in a STEM field, with thelargest share — about 16 percent — holding a degree in engineering.4/13The data also speak to the clannishness that characterizes the hiring of provosts at topinstitutions. Nearly 180 provosts in the group earned their Ph.D. or other terminal degreefrom one of the 60 American AAU institutions (or one of two prestigious universities inBritain). At the top of the list was Harvard University, with 16 degrees awarded; both thecurrent provost there, Alan M. Garber and his predecessor, Steven E. Hyman, are Harvardalums.The clannishness takes several forms. AAU members’ permanent provosts were internalhires more often than not, with nearly two-thirds of them moving into the job that way, asRobel did. And institutional roots can run deep: Roughly two dozen provosts wereappointed to serve at universities where, also like Robel, they had been graduatestudents."I came to my job with a lot of credibility when it comes to my loyalty and devotion to thisinstitution in particular," Robel said.Her tenure as provost has already outpaced the nearly five years that Chronicle data showis the average for the group. She is typical in other ways, too. Her previous position wasdean, and people with that title or coming from that office accounted for more than halfof the provosts in the Chronicle’s sample.As for what comes after landing a provost job, there is no clear majority. The most-common next moves for an AAU provost — just like their colleagues at other types ofinstitutions — fall into one of three categories. Some of them return to the faculty. Slightly5/13fewer become college presidents. And some simply remain in the provost’s office,perhaps until they retire.No one during the past decade has served longer as an AAU-member provost thanEdward S. Macias. He stuck with the job for 25 years at Washington University in St. Louisbefore stepping down in 2013 and retiring from the university four years later.Washington U. Photographic Services Collection, Department of Special CollectionsEdMacias taught in the chemistry department at Washington U. in St. Louis (above, in 1981)before starting his 25-year stint as the university’s provost.What was behind Macias’ lengthy tenure in the role? "I liked very much what I was doing,and I had no real interest in being president," he said.Macias’ career path is a prime example of how the road to becoming a chief academicofficer is paved with more happenstance than intention. He came to Washington U. in1970, after graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Ph.D. inchemistry (a field shared by 11 AAU provosts in the group analyzed by The Chronicle). Inthe 1980s, a colleague offered him a chance to be dean of the university’s summer school,a job that would provide Macias with a broad perspective on the needs of the campus. Itproved to be valuable training."It’s a little bit like running a university, even though it’s only two or three months and amuch smaller operation," he said of the four summers or so he served as dean. "Youinteract with everybody — admissions, faculty, staff, registration, the library — and youget an idea of who’s who and what they do and how to interact with them."6/137/13Joe AngelesEd MaciasA stint as department chair followed, and then came a bit of serendipity. In 1988, a formerchancellor asked Macias to serve part-time as an associate provost alongside the actingprovost. The plan was to tap Macias’ expertise in the sciences. At first he turned down theoffer, but then he changed his mind, in part out of a sense of duty.Nine months later, in the fall of that year, Macias was named provost of the university."Having that nine months in the provost’s office, even part-time, I could see what they didand I could see the issues," he said. "It was very valuable in that I knew the actors."However, embracing the provost’s role meant that the amount of time he had to doresearch shrank immensely."You don’t have much time to really think deeply about problems the way you wouldnormally," Macias said. "Over time you became disappointed that you can’t spend thetime and therefore you just can’t do things at the same pace. Eventually you have to makea decision."One decision, for AAU provosts, is to take a step even further away from the faculty. "Ifyou’re a provost at a pretty good-sized institution, someone is thinking, ‘You’d make agood president. We’d like to recruit you,’ " said James Martin, a former provost and co-author of two books about the position. "There’s the assumption that if you’re a provost,you want to be a president."Macias says he was contacted by recruiters looking to fill a college presidency. He wasn’tinterested."I gave it some thought," he said. "But I never really wanted to do it. I really liked the job ofprovost because you’re so close to the academic heart of the university."Even though some provosts find long-term fulfillment in the job, a notable proportion, 20percent, moved up to lead an institution in their next job, according to Chronicle data onAAU provosts.The list includes some familiar names. W. Kent Fuchs, a former provost at CornellUniversity, is now president of the University of Florida. The University of Maryland’spresident, Wallace D. Loh, was once provost of the University of Iowa. Three formerprovosts at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor went on to become presidents:Martha E. Pollack is at Cornell, Philip Hanlon is at Dartmouth College, and Teresa Sullivanrecently stepped down from an eight-year presidency at the University of Virginia.Although just over 60 percent of the 41 AAU provosts who landed presidencies did so atAAU institutions, colleges outside that group were appealing destinations as well.Virginia’s former provost, John D. Simon, is president of Lehigh University. Neeli8/13Bendapudi left the University of Kansas to become president of the University ofLouisville. And Iowa’s former provost, P. Barry Butler, is now the head of Embry-RiddleAeronautical University.And sometimes they take over at the university where they served as provost.Douglas Levere, U. at BuffaloSatish Tripathi served as provost at the U. at Buffalo fornearly seven years, and regularly taught computer-science seminars (above).  He becamepresident of the university in 2011: "I loved the institution and thought I could make adifference being in the presidency."That’s the case for Satish K. Tripathi, president of the University at Buffalo since 2011. Hewas provost there for nearly seven years before that."I wasn’t truly looking for a presidency, and I never made a set of plans that this is thepath I’m going to follow," said Tripathi, a computer scientist. "I enjoyed being provost."He and the previous president, John B. Simpson, arrived at the State University of NewYork campus the same year, 2004. Working closely with Simpson gave Tripathi firsthandinsight into the president’s job. They learned about the campus and its faculty togetherwhile selling a strategic plan to make interdisciplinary research a priority. "I thought Icould do it," Tripathi said of being president.When Simpson announced his retirement as president, Tripathi knew what he wanted todo: "I loved the institution, and thought I could make a difference being in thepresidency." So he applied for the job.9/13Douglas Levere, U. at BuffaloSatish TripathiAlthough the provost position would appear to be a natural launching pad to apresidency, it’s not a common aspiration. According to data released five years ago from asurvey of provosts conducted by the American Council on Education only about one-thirdplanned to seek a college presidency."A provost is proud to say he or she still retains ties to the faculty," said Martin, theauthor. "They don’t want to have to raise funds or spend a lot of time traveling offcampus."They also may not want to be the face of the university and responsible for governmentrelations, athletics, and meeting with community organizations, donors, board members,and alumni. But some provosts, Martin said, may be eager to leave behind some of theacademically centered aspects of their job that they find unappealing (think facultymeetings), and see becoming a college president as a welcome departure.A handful of provosts in the group left academe behind.When Daniel Linzer stepped down in 2017 after a decade as chief academic officer atNorthwestern University, he was keenly aware that he couldn’t just resume his faculty lifewhere he’d left off. Reigniting his research agenda would be impossible to do with ashuttered lab and no active federal grants."I wasn’t a member of the club anymore," said Linzer, who had also served five years asdean of the college of arts and sciences at Northwestern. And he had no hopes of10/13attracting talented young people to work with him as a way to further their own careers.As provost, Linzer liked shaping the academic enterprise at Northwestern and supportingthe work of the researchers there, an impact he couldn’t have as dean or individualscholar. He wondered if he could have similar influence doing some of the parts of the jobthat he enjoyed, but in a different context.Linzer talked with Earl Lewis, a friend and former provost at Emory University, aboutLewis’s decision to run the nonprofit Andrew W. Mellon Foundation after eight years as achief academic officer. Afterward, "I could see that kind of pathway was possible," saidLinzer, a molecular biologist, who sought career advice from Macias as well.When the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, an Arizona-based foundation,offered Linzer a job as president and chief executive officer in 2017, he saw that patheven more clearly. "I get to support bright scientists at college and universities" byawarding them funding to do research, he said, instead of having to resolve the kinds ofproblems that provosts are called on to fix.For some provosts, neither continuing to advance up the ladder nor staying put feelsquite right. One out of five AAU provosts eventually returns to the faculty.Vicki L. Colvin rejoined the faculty ranks sooner than most. About six months into servingas provost at Brown University, Colvin could no longer ignore the pull she felt to focusmore on her research on how nanoscale particles interact with the environment andliving systems. But she knew she couldn’t balance her research with the demands of beinga chief academic officer. After an academic year as provost, she stepped down in 2015.11/1312/13Rice U.Vicki Colvin"I was in meetings a lot. I was always talking to someone," said Colvin. "But I was stillwriting papers, still helping people get jobs. It became clear that it was going to be prettymuch impossible to keep that up. You have to be fully available as provost."Colvin went to Brown in 2014 after 20 years at Rice University, where she last served asvice provost for research. That job was one that let her "do things that I thought wereimportant for the university and still keep my identity as a scientist," she said.The vice-provost position, however, had its limits. Having the ability to fix structural issuesthat affected faculty life and the university as a whole made the provost’s job appealing.Accepting the position at Brown let her make the kinds of decisions that have an impactuniversitywide. She created a program for entrepreneurial education, established a vice-provost-of-the-arts position, and helped Brown cut its budget to stave off a deficit.Yet for Colvin — a working mother of children who were in fourth grade and eighth gradewhen she arrived at Brown — the provost’s job came at too high a cost."Being a provost, being an active researcher, being a mom … I could not sleep at all, and itstill wouldn’t work," she said. "It’s not the person, it was the position. I didn’t hate the job. Iloved being provost. But I wasn’t ready for that to be my last chapter."Dan Berrett and Julia Piper contributed to this article.RELATEDCopyright © 2019 The Chronicle of Higher Education About | Subscribe13/13

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The Provost\u27s Path: How More Than 200 Scholars Reached the Top Academic Job on Campus, and Where They Went Next

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