American University President Jonathan Alger announced in an email a search will start for the next provost and chief academic officer and the vice president of advancement. Acting Provost and Chief Academic Officer Vicky Wilkins will serve for the remainder of the academic year until new candidates are selected.
Searches for the provost and vice president of advancement will have separate methods, with both creating search committees.
The search for a new provost will be a 21 day process where the University’s six schools will nominate one faculty member to form a Provost Search Committee. Students and staff will also nominate two of their peers each to serve on the search committee. Alger will announce the list for the Provost Search Committee in the next few weeks.
Alger said that the nationwide search process for selecting a new provost is “an important demonstration of our commitment to shared governance.”
Alger said that the search for a new vice president of advancement will be primarily led by a “search firm with fundraising leadership expertise.” The candidate search for this position will also include a search committee. This search committee will be made up of University staff and faculty. Faculty representation will be determined by the Faculty Senate. Dan Luperchio will serve as the interim vice president of advancement until a new candidate is selected.
Alger said that members of this committee “will include members of our university community who work closely with this position.” The committee will include staff from both academic and financial departments, and members of the Board of Trustees. Legal leadership and alumni leadership will also be involved in the candidate search.
The search for a new provost and vice president of advancement will conclude at the end of the academic year. Updates from Alger to the AU community on the search for these candidates will continue.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly said the search committee for the vice president of advancement would be made up of exclusively staff. It has been updated to reflect that the committee will include staff and faculty.
This article was edited by Sydney Hsu, Tyler Davis and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks.
