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Four finalists for provost will make public presentations

April 10, 2008

KALAMAZOO--Public presentations by four final candidates for the post of Western Michigan University provost and vice president for academic affairs begin Thursday, April 17.

The candidates and the times, dates and locations of their public presentations are:

Dr. Susan L. Carlson, associate provost for faculty advancement and diversity at Iowa State University, 2:30 to 3:45 p.m. Thursday, April 17, in the South Ballroom of the Bernhard Center.

Dr. Jeffrey P. Koep, dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2:30 to 3:45 p.m. Monday, April 21, in the South Ballroom of the Bernhard Center.

Dr. Robert Felner, dean, Distinguished University Scholar and professor in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Louisville, 2:30 to 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, April 23, in Shaw Theatre.

Dr. Timothy J. Greene, dean of the WMU College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and professor of industrial and manufacturing engineering, noon to 1:15 p.m. Friday, April 25, in Room 1010 of the Health and Human Services Building.

Each candidate will focus his or her remarks on "Promoting academic leadership that engages students, ensures shared governance, develops research partnerships and prepares lifelong learners." There will be a question-and-answer period following each talk, and those attending also will have an opportunity to interact with the candidates at a post-presentation reception.

Those attending will be asked to provide feedback by filling out evaluation forms. Those forms can be turned in immediately following the presentations or returned to Judy King in the College of Health and Human Services by mail or by fax at (269) 387-2683. All feedback forms must be turned in by 5 p.m. Friday, April 25.

In addition to the public presentations, the candidates' itineraries include meetings with: the executive boards of the Faculty Senate and the WMU Chapter of the American Association of University Professors; WMU President John M. Dunn; Interim Provost Bassam Harik; members of the senior staff; board members of the Graduate Student Advisory Committee and the Western Student Association; WMU deans, department chairs and directors; members of the provost's staff; and the search committee that has been coordinating the search for a new provost. Those attending the meetings also will be invited to fill out evaluation forms.

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Dr. Susan L. Carlson was appointed associate provost at Iowa State University in July 2001, and she was named to her current position in 2004. She also served as provost and interim vice president for academic affairs from June to December 2006. A faculty member at ISU since 1980, she joined the English Department after completing her master's and doctoral degrees in English at the University of Oregon in 1976 and 1980, respectively. She also earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa in 1975. As an English department faculty member, she was active in departmental administration, serving for four years as assistant chair.

Carlson is the founding president of the Iowa Network for Women in Higher Education and serves on the national board of directors for the Office of Women in Higher Education, a division of the American Council on Education.

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Dr. Robert Felner has served as dean at the University of Louisville since 2003. Since 2006, he also has served as director of Louisville's part of the Kentucky Initiative on the Doctorate in Education, a collaboration involving the University of Kentucky and the Carnegie Foundation.

Prior to moving to Louisville, he served for seven years as founding director of the School of Education at the University of Rhode Island and director of the National Center on Public Education and Social Policy there. In addition, he served for three years as a senior research fellow at Brown University's Annenberg Institute for School Reform. Felner's background also includes faculty positions at the University of Illinois, Yale University and the University of Rochester.

Felner earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Connecticut in 1972 and master's and doctoral degrees in psychology from the University of Rochester in 1975 and 1977, respectively.

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Dr. Timothy J. Greene has been the engineering dean at WMU since April 2005. He came to WMU from the University of Alabama, where he was serving as assistant vice president for research and academic affairs. Prior to accepting that position in 2004, he had served as engineering dean there since 1999.

Earlier, he was at Oklahoma State University, where we was head of the School of Industrial Engineering and Management and later associate dean for research. In addition, Greene was a faculty member at Virginia Tech from 1980 to 1991. His background also includes extensive consulting work in private industry, for such diverse clients as Brunswick Corp., Ingersoll Rand, Union Carbide, Federal Mogul and IBM Corp.

Greene earned three engineering degrees from Purdue University--a bachelor's degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering in 1975 and master's and doctoral degrees in industrial engineering in 1977 and 1980, respectively.

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Dr. Jeffrey P. Koep has been the fine arts dean at UNLV since 1995. During his tenure he also served for a year as as interim dean of the UNLV Honors College. In addition, he has been a clinical faculty member at Las Vegas' Touro University Medical School since 2004. Prior to becoming the fine arts dean, Koep served as chairman and professor in the Department of Theatre Arts at UNLV from 1989 to 1995.

His earlier posts included 10 years as chairman and associate professor of communication arts at Indiana University at South Bend and visiting professorships at Ball State University and Goshen College as well as a teaching fellowship at Washington State University.

Koep earned three degrees in theatre: a bachelor's degree from Moorhead State University, a master's degree from Bowling Green State University and a doctoral degree from Washington State University.

A vita for each candidate is available at www.wmich.edu/provostsearch.

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Media contact: Cheryl Roland, (269) 387-8400, cheryl.roland@wmich.edu

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