Paino named to provost position

Troy Paino is a man facing tremendous opportunities.

Paino was chosen as the University's new provost and vice president of academic affairs after about a three-month selection process. As provost, Paino will oversee many of the fundamental elements of the University, including curriculum, personnel decisions and everything that affects the academic program.

"In almost every institution this size, the provost has what I would say is next to the president, who has the whole university, … the largest portfolio of roles," University President Barbara Dixon said.

Among the responsibilities that Dixon listed as belonging to the provost are guiding the curriculum, making personnel decisions and recommendations and managing assessments at the University. Dixon also said the provost would act as president if a decision would ever need to be made while she was away from Truman and couldn't be located. She said the provost is a senior member of the president's staff.

The provost, along with two associate provosts who report to him, is responsible for every area of the academic program. All of the deans, as well as 13 other branches of the University that include such programs as the Writing Center, graduate programs and the Joseph Baldwin Academy, report to the provost, Dixon said. Academic affairs, which is controlled by the provost, is one of four major units of the University, which also includes Advancement, Student Affairs and the administrative and finance areas.

Dixon said that when Paino arrives, he will be walking into some things that already are going on at the University, including an examination of the student-to-faculty ratio, the curriculum and the newly-created academic structure. She said one of her particular goals for the new provost - with the help of faculty members - is to make it more possible for students to participate in study abroad, internships, service learning and undergraduate research while still graduating in four years.

Dixon also said Paino has some areas of specialty that she thinks will be beneficial to him at Truman.

"A goal would be actually to increase … the kinds of interdisciplinary courses that we have here," she said. "His doctorate is an interdisciplinary doctorate so he ought to be able to jump right into that with some enthusiasm."

Paino will finish the academic year as the dean of the college of liberal arts at Winona State University (Min.), then make the trek south to Kirksville. Paino said he was attracted to Truman by the University's mission statement.

"I want to work at a place whose mission is a liberal arts and sciences education in the context of a public university," he said.

Paino said that when he arrived for his on-campus interview, he was impressed with the community of learners at the University.

"One of the reasons I care so much about a liberal arts and sciences education is that when I went off to college, I was fairly clueless, and really a person who sort of opened up the world of ideas to me was an American history professor in my first year of college," Paino said.

After graduating college, Paino said he made a practical decision and decided to attend law school. He practiced law for three years before returning to graduate school and beginning a career in higher education. Paino said the Truman provost job will allow him to express the things he is passionate about, and also will present him with new challenges and opportunities.

"The first thing that I think anyone who takes a position such as this needs to do is listen a lot to students, the faculty, staff, administrators, members of the community about what the challenges and opportunities are at Truman State," he said. "It would be presumptuous of me to try to come in there and try to impose my vision on Truman State."

Paino said he is planning a number of visits to Kirksville before starting as provost July 1 and said he thinks he will be able to start looking at issues such as curriculum and the meaning of a liberal arts and sciences education when he arrives.

Paino said he also is prepared to look at the newly-created role of department chair and also addressed the recently reorganized academic structure. He said the structure makes a lot of sense to him from an outside perspective, but that while he was here, he heard faculty members express some anxiety that the new structure would not allow for faculty members under different disciplines to be able to collaborate and discuss curriculum as they had under the old structure.

"I think there are ways to have those cross-disciplinary conversations between faculty in the current structure," Paino said.

Paino was one of four provost candidates who were invited to Truman for on-campus interviews. Julia DeLancey, associate professor of art and co-chair of the provost and vice president of academic affairs search advisory committee, said the committee was made up of students, faculty members, staff members and administrators and that the selection process consisted of closely reading the applications and conducting a series of checks and searches on a narrowed down list of candidates until four were selected for the on-campus interviews.

"Our charge was specifically to identify from the pool of applicants any and all candidates that we thought were qualified and acceptable candidates," she said.

DeLancey said the search advisory committee compiled an unranked list of finalists, so the committee was evaluating each candidate as an individual, not compared to other candidates. She said the list was given to Dixon, who then made her selection and job offer.

Cole Woodcox, professor of English and co-chair of the provost and vice president of academic affairs search advisory committee, said the four candidates who came to Truman for on-campus interviews demonstrated a clear passion for liberal arts, an understanding and support of interdisciplinary work and support of teachers as scholars.