Hopkins continues to search for a 14th Provost to replace Interim Provost Dr. Jonathan A. Bagger. Hopkins formed a search committee to identify candidates for the Provost position. However, no public announcements have yet been made as to the progress of the committee, nor have any potential candidates for the position been publicized.
On July 18, President Ronald J. Daniels sent a message to the Hopkins faculty and staff, informing them that Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Lloyd B. Minor was leaving Hopkins to become the Dean of Medicine at Stanford University.
Additionally, Daniels named Bagger as the Interim Provost. Bagger is the current Vice Provost for Graduate and Postdoctoral Programs and Special Projects, as well as the Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Physics and Astronomy.
Until a replacement is announced, Bagger will continue to serve in this role.
Daniels also announced that he was beginning the process to find Minor’s successor.
He announced the creation of a search committee to identify candidates for the Provost position in July. David W. Andrews, Dean of the School of Education, and Michael J. Klag, Dean of the Bloomberg School of Public Health, have been chosen to chair the search committee. Additionally, the committee includes staff representatives from each of Hopkins’s 10 schools as well as student representation.
“The search committee is in the process of recruiting and screening candidates for the position, and it’s an ongoing search that will continue until we are able to find the very best person to lead the university,” Andrews said.
The committee presently cannot estimate when it will be able to designate its recommendation for Minor’s successor.
“It’s open-ended at this point,” Andrews said. “We understand that we want to get it concluded as quickly as possible, but we’re going to be as careful as we can to make sure we cast a broad net and have recruited the very best person, so it’s pretty open-ended.”
The search firm, Russell Reynolds, which is known for providing assistance in selecting the leaders of prestigious institutions all across the world, has aided the search committee.
“The search committee is in the process of recruiting and screening candidates for the position, and it’s an ongoing search that will continue until we are able to find the very best person to lead the university,” Andrews said. “They are helping with the mechanics of it, but Dean Klag and I, and the committee, are actively recruiting candidates, and we will actually begin the process of sorting through the applicants in the near future.”
Back in September, Bagger estimated that the search process would take approximately four to six months.
In addition to the national search for a new provost, Andrews confirmed that the committee was also considering candidates from within Hopkins itself.
“All of those fields are open,” Andrews said. “We want the very best, qualified person for the position. So internally or externally.”
The Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs is responsible for coordinating the academic missions of the university, including both teaching and research.
Additionally, the Provost leads the institution’s budgeting process, manages its 10 schools and its other academic programs and serves as Secretary of the Academic Policy Committee of the Board of Trustees and as the liaison to the board for academic policies.
“As the chief academic officer, the Provost and Senior Vice President will work in partnership with President Ronald J. Daniels, to continue to strengthen one of the world’s most prestigious universities,” the job listing posted by the committee says.
Many applicants have already begun submitting their names to the committee for consideration.
“This is a key position in academia, and as soon as we advertised it was an opening, we started to receive very strong candidates,” Andrews said. “We think it’s a very strong pool.”
Andrews stressed that the committee is dedicated to finding the most capable person to fill the University’s second most prestigious role.
He explained that there are no limiting criteria beyond qualifications.
“We are just looking for a person who is very well respected, who had impeccable academic credentials, and who has demonstrated their capacity to lead a world- class academic institution,” Andrews said. “Beyond that, we don’t have specific characteristics...it’s not limited to any particular discipline or orientation.”
After reaching a consensus on the best-suited candidate, the committee will then submit its conclusions to Daniels.
“The search committee will make a recommendation to the President, and the President will move forward,” Andrews said.
After gaining Daniels’s approval, ratification by the University’s Board of Trustees is necessary for the appointment to take effect.
“Any appointments at these levels eventually go to the Board of Trustees for approval,” Andrews said.
Bagger, in his capacity as Interim Provost, is not involved in the search process conducted by the committee.
“It’s just an exciting time for the University,” Andrews said. “Changes in academic leadership require a lot of focus and effort, but in the end, we’re pretty confident — very confident — that we’ll get one of the best and brightest and highly qualified individuals for the position.”
