Tasks in the Ohio University provost’s office will be redistributed after a search committee finds a replacement for Martin Tuck, who left the office in June for another administrative position.
Tuck’s duties were split up among remaining employees in the provost’s office. The former associate provost for academic affairs stepped down Spring Quarter to serve as interim dean at OU’s Chillicothe campus. He left to replace former Dean Donna Burgraff, who retired last spring.
Ann Fidler, chief of staff to Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit, and David Descutner, associate provost for undergraduate studies, split up Tuck’s job duties, which include dealing with student and faculty grievance concerns and handling promotion and tenure policies.
At the time, Tuck said, he had expressed interest in a dean position and had considered applying to fill the Arts and Sciences dean opening after Ben Ogles left. When Benoit heard that the OU-Chillicothe branch needed an interim dean immediately, she approached Tuck about it, and he accepted.
The search for a permanent OU-Chillicothe dean will begin during the 2012-13 school year, after OU has completed the transition from quarters to semesters. Tuck said he might apply for the permanent dean position and never expected to return to his position in the provost’s office.
“I wouldn’t have taken the (OU-Chillicothe) dean position if I didn’t have somewhat of an interest to apply for it permanently,” Tuck said.
He added that the passing of his associate provost duties to Fidler and Descutner went smoothly, although he kept one task from his former job and has continued as the accreditation liaison between OU and the North Central Association.
Tuck retains his tenure on OU’s main campus and also could return to OU as a professor in the Chemistry and Biochemistry department, he said.
The search committee for the provost’s office position will be tasked to conduct a national search this fall, Fidler said. She added that during the summer, Benoit expanded the position Tuck used to hold. A formal job description is being written for the position, which now will be called associate provost for academic affairs, planning and policy.
The provost’s office is still in the process of forming the committee, and Fidler said she did not know how many people would be involved in the search.
Once the committee is formed, a hiring freeze exemption request will be filed with the Office of the President, said Becky Watts, chief of staff to OU President Roderick McDavis.
“We don’t have (the exemption request) in our office yet,” Watts said. “But we will once it’s created.”
The hiring freeze was implemented in Sept. 2008 because of budget cuts, but departments who need to fill a position can file an exemption request, which must be approved by McDavis and Benoit.
“I don’t expect them to deny that request,” Fidler said.
The salary for the new associate provost for academic affairs, planning and policy has not yet been set. The search will be conducted nationally and the position will be filled once a suitable replacement is found, but there is no timeline, Fidler said.
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