What Is The Mian Challenge That You Faced During Your Former Role?
As a dean of students in my former role, my main challenge was attending to all our students at once. The university has over 40,000 students taking physical classes and another 20,000 in online courses. Attending them at once proved challenging, and therefore, we doubled our efforts by leveraging technology such as Teams and different online platforms to reach them. I also occasionally walked into random classes to check up on our students.
1 This Is An Administrative Position. Can You Tell Us About Your Leadership Style?
I love a leadership style where everyone is involved, right from the students to the university’s top management. While serving as the dean, I worked closely with the student representatives and the top management alike, and we achieved great success. I believe that leadership is all about service, and therefore, everyone’s voice should be taken into account despite the positions they occupy in the university. I will do the same if I get this job, which I am definitely looking forward to.
Mention The Qualities That A Provost Needs To Be Successful
The main quality that a provost needs to succeed is leadership. A good provost must have quality leadership skills to inspire change and rally students, faculty members, and the entire university towards a common goal. They must also be analytical thinkers, which is necessary to help the college live up to its end of the bargain, providing quality education. Lastly, a provost should have excellent communication skills since this is an administrative position. They should be able to communicate with the students, academic staff, and employees clearly.
Mention A Strategy And Mindset Required For This Role
A provost occupies a senior administrative position in the university and therefore requires a proper strategy for success. From what I learned from the outgoing provost, one should work closely with administrators such as the deans of studies and the University President since some of the roles are intertwined. Keeping these officials close is a sure way of success as it enhances collaboration on almost similar functions. As for the right mindset, a provost needs to be positive, especially since they champion students. I am willing to walk in the footsteps of our former provost, who has taught me a lot about this field.
How Do You Stay Motivated In This Field?
I love academia but love when my students and the entire university succeed more. I am therefore fueled by my desire to ensure that my university achieves more awards and that most, if not all, our students compete well in the job market and flourish wherever they find themselves after school. My motivation also comes from my colleagues, who time and again have pushed me to be better at whatever I do.
Mention A Time That You Failed In This Role And The Lesson You Learned
I don’t always leave much room for failure since I am thorough and tactical with my work, but I have had several learning experiences. While serving as the assistant dean of students, we may have pushed the students too much to the point of threatening unrest. We quickly realized that we would fail even though our reforms and policies were for their benefit and went back to the drawing board, this time around involving them more. We managed to come up with policies that all factions accepted. This experience taught me the importance of student involvement.