After an extensive search, three people have been chosen as candidates for the position of provost and vice president of academic affairs.
Elliot Pood, Andrew Bodman and William Swart are the three candidates who will be visiting Ball State University in September to conduct interviews and hold forums in hopes of getting the second highest ranking position at the university. No official schedule has been set, Glenn Augustine, associate director of university communications, said.
"These three were really at the top of the list," O'Neal Smitherman, vice president for information technology and chair of the search committee, said.
About 45 people applied for the position and Smitherman said it was a very good pool of candidates overall, and the video conferences done with the six finalists went very well, but these three drew the committee's interest the most.
Pood is currently the dean of the College of Arts and Letters at the University of Southern Mississippi and is a professor of speech communication.
"It's an absolutely exceptional university," Pood said of Ball State. "I am incredibly impressed with some of the initiatives President [Jo Ann] Gora has implemented."
Pood also said that since he has a strong background in communications, Ball State was attractive because of its reputation as a communications school.
As a high-tech person and one who always looks for creative solutions to problems, he said he thinks he would fit into the environment at Ball State.
Pood will make a visit to Ball State's campus from Sept. 18 through 20.
Andrew Bodman, the current provost and vice president of academic affairs at Western Washington University, has a solid background in academics and administration, as do the other candidates, Smitherman said.
As was the case for all three of the nominees, reference checks for Bodman were very positive, and his contacts all made equally positive comments, Smitherman said.
Messages left at Bodman's office and residence were not returned. He will visit Ball State from Sept. 26 through 28.
The third candidate, William Swart, is currently a professor in the department of decision sciences for the College of Business at East Carolina University.
Swart was provost at East Carolina but was reassigned to a faculty position 17 months after assuming his role because of questionable hiring practices, according to an article in the university's faculty newspaper, Pieces of Eight.
Questions arose after Swart hired six employees for administrative positions at East Carolina who were from Old Dominion University, where Swart previously worked, according to the article that appeared on Oct. 3, 2003.
"From everything we can tell, Dr. Swart is a positive administrator and found himself in a difficult position, and he handled himself well and very professionally," Smitherman said.
Not only were calls made to find out about the incident, but independent research was also done, and based on what the committee found, Smitherman said that Swart should have very positive approaches to being an administrator at Ball State.
Messages left at Swart's office were not returned. He will be on campus from Sept. 14 through 16.
During the candidates' visits, they will be meeting with students, faculty and staff, but no official agenda has been made yet, Smitherman said.
"I think we have a good pool of candidates, and the three we took an interest in are very positive, and I'm looking forward to getting to know them a little," Smitherman said.
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