COLUMBIA — Garnett Stokes, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at Florida State University, will be the fourth MU provost candidate to participate in a public forum on campus..
Students, faculty and staff are welcome to attend the discussion and ask the candidate questions, according to an email from the provost search committee. The forum is scheduled for 4 p.m. Monday in Room 112, Lefevre Hall.
Along with serving as the provost at Florida State since 2011, Stokes has been the interim president of the university since March 7. However, on Thursday, two days after he was re-elected to the Florida Senate, John Thrasher was confirmed as Florida State's next president.
At Florida State, Stokes has focused on several initiatives such as faculty advancement and development; student graduate success; university-wide hiring initiatives, including the development of an entrepreneur-in-residence program for each college; and the establishment of an Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, according to her bio page.
According to her resume, Stokes, 58, earned a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1977 from Carson-Newman College in Tennessee; a master's degree in measurement and human differences from the University of Georgia in 1980; and doctorate from Georgia in industrial/organizational psychology in 1982.
Stokes became an assistant professor in the department of psychology at the University of Georgia in 1985 and held various positions throughout her more than 25 years there, including professor, head of the Department of Psychology and, from 2004 to 2011, dean of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.
Stokes' resume also notes that she is a fellow for the Association of Psychological Science, the American Psychological Association and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.
The other three provost candidates who have visited MU for interviews are Michele Wheatly, former provost of West Virginia University; John Wiencek, interim provost at Virginia Commonwealth University; and Nancy Brickhouse, deputy provost for the University of Delaware.
Brian Foster retired after eight years as MU provost in December 2013. Since then, the university hired a search firm, Isaacson, Miller, to help create a position profile for the provost.
Deputy Provost Kenneth Dean has been serving as interim provost. Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin will make the final decision about who to hire as MU’s next chief academic officer. On Friday, MU spokesman Christian Basi said the chancellor has indicated he would like to hire a new provost by early next semester.
Supervising editor is Elizabeth Brixey.