By snoadmin
The last university provost candidate, Joseph Glover, spoke Monday and focused on the need for campus faculty members to remain being “engaged scholars” and extend the scope of research performed at Cal State Long Beach.
Glover spoke in the Karl Anatol Center before about 20 university staff, mainly professors from the College of Liberal Arts. Glover addressed the issues of the role of campus athletics in the college experience, the changing role of interdisciplinary studies on campus and assessment and accountability as aspects of the role of a university provost.
Glover spoke briefly to the audience, asking, “How will we serve more students? How will we find more faculty? How will we find housing [for the new faculty]?” This was followed a few minutes later by a town hall-style debate with audience members.
The first question addressed the role of the provost on a college campus, prompting Glover to respond saying that the provost has a “role in setting the academic tone of the institution” and is not a “top down issuer of orders.” He also said “the talent of the university is located in the faculty.”
Glover later addressed the role of extracurricular activities at CSULB, especially athletics, noting that in a non-residential campus the “environment outside the classroom is important. It is harder for students to cohere to academic pursuits. Athletics is a tool in the academic setting.”
Glover also said “learning takes place largely off campus” and that “can help bond students to campus, promote well-being [and] structured activities outside school.”
Glover, who is currently serving as the associate provost for Academic Affairs at the University of Florida, also mentioned what he said is the important function of the interdisciplinary studies program on campus.
“Society and science are tackling issues and working together to solve problems,” Glover said. “We’re trained to think in disciplines. Undergrads need to understand that most problems today are solved using multitudes of disciplines.”
The conversation between Glover and the audience then reverted back to the importance of academic research at CSULB.
“In order to remain fresh as a teacher you must remain an engaged scholar,” Glover said.
Political science department Chairman Charles Noble, who is also a member of the provost search committee that is hosting the provost candidate events, said the speeches are being held to “provide the campus community with an open forum.” According to Noble, the candidates are all meeting with the Associated Students Inc., and the search committee has a student member in an effort to reach out to students.
