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 Members of Syracuse University’s Graduate Student Organization on Wednesday provided recommendations for the university committee tasked with searching for a new provost.

The search for a provost began in late January, and the goal of SU’s Provost and Academic Officer Search Committee is to hire a provost by early summer, said Jamie Winders, chair of the committee. Members of the 21-person committee attended group meetings and other sessions across the university to discover what students, faculty and staff are looking for in a provost.

 At Wednesday’s GSO meeting, Winders posed several questions to the Senate about research demands, living conditions and mental health. The search committee’s members signed a nondisclosure agreement so that students feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, she said.

“We’ll use this feedback, as a committee, to shape what we look for in the pool of candidates,” Winders said.

Members of GSO said they hope that the provost will be receptive to students’ concerns and willing to track action concerning them.

Some graduate students said it’s important for the provost to be well-informed on inclusive educational practice and systemic oppression. They said that it’s not enough to admit that these problems exist — the provost should be able to mobilize around those issues and come up with plans to address them.

A provost who “walks the halls” is a key aspect of what the search committee often hears students and employees are looking for in a provost, Winders said.

 “You’re intensely connected to the university for a relatively short period of time, but your attachment to it is probably different from your attachment to where you were as an undergrad,” Winders said. “So you see the university in a different way.”

Graduate students also expressed concerns about their mental health. They said the provost should be attuned to the mental health challenges that graduate students face. 

“I mean, what’s wrong with this picture that we’re all nodding,” Winders said as many in the meeting began to nod their head in agreement to the topic of mental health challenges among graduate students.

The information from the session with GSO, along with the other sessions held by the provost search committee with other university organizations, will help shape the pool of candidates that the committee looks for and picks from, Winders said.

“We want someone who is visible, who’s accessible, who’s approachable for all the different constituencies and groups in campus,” Winders said.

Published on March 11, 2021 at 12:41 am

Contact Kailey: kmnorusi@syr.edu