Ball State University provost candidate Bjong Wolf Yeigh is ready to help the university improve its branding efforts, build relationships with alumni and work with local industry, he said Thursday.
During the final open forum for the provost search, Yeigh emphasized his excitement about Ball State's future and the powerful role the institution's next provost must play. Yeigh is currently the director of the Center for Science, Technology and Engineering Policy at Saint Louis University and has worked at other universities including Yale University, Oklahoma State University and Princeton University.
"If you really want to elevate Ball State University to the next level, it's not leaving patches all over but weaving patches into a giant quilt," Yeigh said. "The role of the provost is the thread that's going to knit all of these patches together."
Yeigh also likened financial resources to a constantly replenished river, rather than a constantly drained pool. University officials must think outside of the box to finance and boost Ball State initiatives, he said. Prime sources include federal agencies, nonprofit organizations and private donors, Yeigh said.
"We'll need to approach this in a multi-prong way," Yeigh said.
The candidate also highlighted a grant writing and revenue sharing program he started at Saint Louis University to encourage faculty to write grants. Yeigh also established six research centers at the university using money from fundraisers, he said.
However, before Yeigh left the position as dean of Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology at Saint Louis University, he reduced the budget deficit from $3.4 million to $2.5 million.
"We basically cleaned up as much as we could, and the college really needed time to grow itself some of its roots," Yeigh said. "It was the opportune time for me to step aside and (pursue) these things that are important to me."
Yeigh said he also wanted to see Ball State applied science and entrepreneurship students and faculty work with small start-ups or larger local industries, which successfully took place at Yale University.
Ball State faculty should also nurture its strongest graduate programs, which include physics, teaching and telecommunications, and decide which programs need to be continued or merged, Yeigh said.
If Yeigh becomes provost, he said he would also work to establish more school pride, especially with the anticipated renovations for the football stadium.
"I see in my model where academics is first and then athletics, but it really is school pride that you have to embrace," Yeigh said.
O'Neal Smitherman, vice president of information technology and chairman of the provost search committee, said the committee would hopefully pass its perspectives on Yeigh and candidates Y.T. Shah, provost and executive vice chancellor for the University of Missouri-Rolla, and Terry King, dean for the College of Engineering at Kansas State University, to President Jo Ann Gora within the next few days.
The new provost will take office either this academic year or in July depending on how quickly he can move from his current position, he said.
"The thing that is important is what a great group of people we had coming to meet with us at Ball State University," Smitherman said. "The message that has come through with all of them is that this is a great institution with more potential than we realize."
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