IU starts search for provost

IU is embarking on a national search for a provost, a sign that Chancellor Sharon Brehm, with one year under her belt, is eager to carve her own identity into campus.\nBrehm said the provost will be a "beefed-up" version of the vice-chancellor of academic affairs and the dean of faculties and will work closely with the chancellor and academic deans. \nIt will be the first provost in the school's history.\nThe addition of a provost will alter the traditional role the chancellor has played at IU, Brehm told the Bloomington Faculty Council Tuesday, a move she not only endorsed but pushed. \nBrehm's predecessor, Kenneth Gros Louis served as chancellor for 21 years. A University audit conducted at the time of his retirement showed that the chancellor's office under his helm had taken on an enormous amount of tasks, Brehm said. \nGros Louis knew everything and everybody on campus, and it was natural for him to do it all, she said. That legacy has made it very difficult for Brehm to take on new responsibilities, especially in activities outside Bloomington.\n"Ken did a fantastic job, and he is not going to be replicated," Brehm said. "But he was not terribly interested in external activities. That was his choice, and I greatly respect it." \nA provost, Brehm said, will give her more time to pursue those external activities -- engaging the community, meeting with legislators, visiting alumni clubs and helping with fund raising. \n"I need someone who can be a very adept partner," she said. "It would allow me to be a CEO with a strong commitment internally and externally."\nFaculty Council member Elizabeth Lion said the chancellor's office was due for reorganization.\n"I think it will be efficient and effective," she said. "The personal communication lines were very well set at the end of (Gros Louis') 21 years, and that doesn't work so well anymore."\nIU was the only Big Ten school without a provost, which is actually a British word meaning "jailkeeper."\n"It's an odd term that has a kind of military jailing quality," Brehm said.\nAt Tuesday's meeting, some faculty members shared concern that they would be losing a powerful ally in the present dean of faculty. The position is currently held by Moya Andrews.\n"Many people are worried about the provost model that does not emphasize faculty development," BFC president Bob Eno said. "The dean of faculties has been a feature of this campus that we've been able to preserve against the grain."\nBrehm said those duties will be absorbed by an associate provost, who would most likely be a faculty member.