CSC to begin search for academic vice president

Several other administrative positions must also be filled at CSC in the near future, but Park said selection of the vice president of academic affairs is receiving top priority. Advertising for the job will begin immediately. It is hoped that interviews can take place in March, under what Park calls “an aggressive timeline.”

Dr. Lois Veath was appointed interim vice president of academic and student affairs in July shortly after Dr. Joyce Hardy, who filled the position seven years, resigned to return to teaching science courses.

Park said Veath is welcome to apply for the academic affairs position. The president said the college’s deans and faculty will make up most of the search committee.

“This position is so important to the college, and the person filling it has to be validated by the faculty,” said Park, who served in that capacity at Montana State University-Billings for nine years before becoming the Chadron State president in August, 2005.

During her first three years as provost at Billings, Park also was in charge of student services. She said she learned then and has observed since coming to Chadron State that the positions should be separated.

“It is difficult for one person to handle both jobs effectively,” said Park. “One of the two areas is likely not to get the full attention that it needs. At Chadron State, much of the focus in recent years has been on enrollment, and the academic areas have struggled to get their needs met. Things like academic program and curriculum development, assessment of learning outcomes for continuous improvement and mentoring of new faculty, staff and deans are vitally important and need the full attention of an administrator.”

Before advertising for someone to lead student services and enrollment management, Park said she will study the current structure and perhaps make some changes in the organizational configuration and position assignments. The new position will likely be at the vice presidential level, as it was during most of the 1990s at CSC.

Park noted this is an appropriate time to reassess the current organizational structure because the college’s dean of students the past two years, Dr. Robert Stack, has submitted his resignation and will return to his faculty position in the math department next fall. Stack joined the college’s math faculty in 1998.

In addition, the college must replace Ed Hoffman, the college’s vice president of administration the past nine years. It was announced last month that he will become vice chancellor for facilities, planning and information technology in the Nebraska State College System Office in Lincoln on July 1.

Again, Park said she will study the roles of those who are serving under Hoffman and may make some assignment changes before developing the job description and advertising for a replacement.

Park also said she is reviewing the college’s academic structure that was reconfigured from four schools to two in 2002 to help meet the budget crunch caused by the 13 percent reduction in state appropriations at a time when Nebraska was suffering from a sharp decline in income and sales tax receipts.

Both of the deans—Dr. Margaret Crouse for the School of Professional and Graduate Studies and Dr. Kathy Bahr for the School of Arts and Sciences—are serving interim appointments. Bahr became the dean when Veath moved from that post to become interim vice president last summer, and has indicated she plans to return to teaching language arts when her one-year appointment ends.

“I am concerned about their work load and they concur that it is nearly impossible for them to oversee so many programs and faculty,” said Park of the deans. “It is very likely that we will divide our academic structure into more schools. I don’t know whether we will use the three-school or the four-school model, but I am reasonably sure we will adopt one or the other.”

With the numerous changes mentioned, Park seemed surprised when it was noted that by the time she has been Chadron State a year, she will be one of the college’s “senior” administrators.

“Because we have several people serving in interim positions and with the resignations of Ed Hoffman and Robert Stack, this is a wonderful time to look are our entire structure and determine what might serve us best in the future,” Park noted.