Four people, including Interim Provost Ivy Broder, will meet with the campus community in the coming weeks as part of the final stages of the ongoing provost search.
In addition to Broder, the other candidates for the position are: Scott Bass, dean of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Graduate School and vice president for research; Charles A. Johnson, dean of Texas A&M University's College of Liberal Arts; and Robert J. Thompson Jr., dean of Duke University's Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, according to an e-mail AU President Neil Kerwin and Search Committee Chair Bob Griffith sent to the AU community yesterday.
The committee received more than 100 applications and eventually interviewed 11 candidates before selecting the four finalists, according to the e-mail.
Each candidate will meet with different campus constituencies and groups, including student leaders, deans, Kerwin and members of the board's Academic Affairs Committee. They each will also hold a public meeting with the entire AU community, according to Griffith.
During each public meeting, the candidate will give a brief presentation and take questions from the public. Meeting participants will be able to give their feedback on response sheets after each meeting. The committee plans to give a great deal of weight to the public's feedback, Griffith said.
"We think all four of these candidates are well-qualified for the position and would make a good provost," he said. "We want to get a read from the campus about who they would prefer for the job."
Students and other people with AU log-in accounts can examine portions of each candidate's application - including references, letters of recommendation and curriculum vitae - through my.american.edu.
Griffith said the committee decided to post the information online so everyone could have a better idea of each candidate's qualifications.
"Even if people can't attend every meeting, they can get a read on what each candidate's strengths are," he said. "This is a continuation of our commitment to keep this process as transparent as possible. We want the whole community to participate."
Broder, who obtained her bachelor's degree at the City University of New York's Hunter College and her master's and doctoral degrees at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, has worked at AU since 1993, according to her online application. She took over as interim provost after the board of trustees appointed then-Provost Neil Kerwin as acting president during their investigation of then-President Ben Ladner. Broder will hold her meetings April 14 and 15.
Bass, who obtained his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees at the University of Michigan, has worked at UMBC since 1996 and was a visiting professor at Stanford University in 2004, according to his online application information. Bass will hold his meetings April 10 and 11.
Johnson, who obtained his bachelor's degree at what is now Towson University, his master's from the University of Maryland, College Park, and his doctorate from the University of Kentucky, has worked at Texas A&M since 1982, according to his online application. Johnson will hold his meetings April 17 and 18.
Thompson, who obtained his bachelor's degree at LaSalle College and his master's and doctoral degrees at the University of North Dakota, has worked at Duke since 1975, according to his online application. Thompson will hold his meetings April 15 and 16.
