Montana State University has named fthree finalists for the
position of Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs. The
finalists will begin visiting the campus for interviews as early
as this week.
The finalists for MSU's number two administrative post are: David
Dooley, MSU's Interim Provost; Joe Fedock, Vice Provost for
Academic Affairs at MSU; Joane W. McKay, Dean of the College of
Education at St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, Minn.
David C. Glenn-Lewin, Dean of the Fairmount College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences, Wichita State University, earlier named a
finalist, has withdrawn from consideration, according to Bruce
McLeod, dean of MSU's College of Graduate Studies and chairman of
the search committee.
The finalists were selected from a pool of more than 60
applicants for the position created by the departure of former
Provost Joseph Chapman, who left in 1999 to become president of
North Dakota State University. "We were working from a large pool
of very qualified candidates for the job," said Bruce McLeod,
dean of MSU's College of Graduate Studies and chair of the
18-member search committee. "We were particularly pleased at the
quality of the candidates even though the search was done on such
a short time-frame."
David Dooley, former chair of MSU's Department of Chemistry and
Biochemistry Department, has served as MSU Interim Provost since
Chapman's departure in 1999. An initial search for the provost
position had been initiated later that year but was disbanded
after the death of Pres. Michael Malone in December, 1999.
Richard Crofts, Montana's Commissioner of Higher Education,
suspended the search until a new university president could be
retained. Pres. Geoff Gamble assumed that post in December and
the search began anew at the beginning of the year.
McLeod said that the committee hopes to complete interviews with
all four candidates by May 4 and plans to submit its
recommendation to Gamble by May 8.
"This position, the number two administrative position in the
university, is a pivotal hire for MSU and for me personally,"
Gamble said. "I applaud the committee for moving as quickly as it
did, and for bringing us an excellent group of finalists."
The finalists qualifications are as follows:
David Dooley has been Interim Provost since 1999 while on leave
as the head of MSU's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He
remains active in research and oversees a research team of 10
people and more than $1 million in National Science Foundation
and National Institute of Health grants in his investigation of
structure and mechanisms of copper amine oxidases. He came to MSU
as a nationally-recognized scholar and had been chairman of the
Department of Chemistry at Amherst College in Amherst, Mass.
where he had served in several capacities from 1978-1993.
Dooley received an undergraduate degree from the University of
California, San Diego and a Ph.D. from California Institute of
Technology. He has also been a professor at University of
Massachusetts, a visiting scholar at Stanford University and a
visiting scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Joe Fedock has been the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at MSU
since 1995 where he has chaired several administrative committees
including the Core Curriculum Committee. Fedock remains active as
a professor, continuing to teach civil engineering classes in
MSU's College of Engineering. He has also served MSU as an
interim dean of the College of Graduate Studies, associate dean
of the College of Engineering and associate director of the MSU
Engineering Experiment Station. Fedock graduated from Arizona
State University with a bachelor's degree, the University of
Colorado with a master's degree and the University of New Mexico
with a Ph.D. -- all in civil engineering. Prior to coming to MSU
in 1990, he was chairman of the Department of Civil Engineering
and Engineering Mechanics at Santa Clara University.
Joane W. McKay is Dean of the College of Education at St. Cloud
State University in St. Cloud, Minn. She has both a doctorate and
a master's degree in professional studies with a major emphasis
in curriculum and instructional technology from Iowa State
University, and a bachelor's degree in history and English from
Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D. She also has done post
doctoral work at the Leadership Institute for Higher Education at
Harvard University.
McKay has been at St. Cloud State since 1997. She was a professor
at Northern Iowa University from 1993-97, at the University of
Nevada-Las Vegas from 1991-93 and at Iowa State University from
1986-1991. She has been named the outstanding professor at
colleges of education at several of the universities where she
has worked. Prior to her work at Iowa State, she was a high
school teacher in the humanities at schools in several states.
She has written a book on teaching gifted children and has
published many articles.
Carol Schmidt
