By Kimberly Wethal

Jan. 27, 2016

Chancellor Beverly Kopper announced the finalists for the position of provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs for UW-Whitewater last week.

The four finalists, which hail from Wisconsin colleges UW-W and UW-Stout and from as far away as Idaho and California, were chosen by a 13-member Search and Screen Committee. The committee was comprised of student, faculty and staff leaders from different departments of the university, and was headed by the chair of the Finance and Business Law department Linda Yu. The committee was confident in the four remaining candidates, selected from a pool of roughly 50 contenders, Yu said.

“We were really impressed by the quality of the candidates we have,” Yu said. “When we evaluated their background as well as the response we got from the [off-campus] interview, the committee felt very comfortable with the top four.”

The committee eventually recommended Mark Hoversten, Jacalyn Weissenburger, Susan Elrod and John Stone to Kopper after reviewing applications on Dec. 1 of last year and conducting off-campus interviews in Milwaukee for 10 applicants, Yu said.

Following those interviews, the committee further narrowed the candidate pool to its current number of four applicants. The current candidates represent a “diverse pool” of applicants within their discipline areas, Yu said.

They were looking for candidates who demonstrated an understanding of affordable education for students and the importance of shared governance and their vision for the campus, among other leadership qualities.

“The provost is a very important person on this campus,” Yu said. “This person will be in charge of the academic programs, make sure things are running smoothly and support all the chancellors’ activities and working with deans in different divisions; this is the chief academic officer.”

Each candidate will be given the opportunity to hold an open forum in Timmermann Auditorium, Hyland Hall Room 1000, during the first two weeks of February.

The candidates are listed below in order of their open forum appearances.

Mark Hoversten, University of Idaho

Hoversten currently works as the Dean of the College of Art and Architecture at the University of Idaho. He holds a doctorate degree in Landscape Planning from Lincoln University in New Zealand, bachelor’s and master’s degrees of both arts and fine arts in Painting and Drawing, and a bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture.

He was appointed to the roles of both professor and dean at the University of Idaho in 2007, and served as an assistant, associate and full professor and coordinator of Landscape Architecture and Planning at the University of Nevada for 16 years prior.

Hoversten’s open forum will be from 3 to 4:15 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2.

Jacalyn Weissenburger, UW-Stout

Weissenburger is currently a professor in the School Counseling, School Psychology and Special Education department at UW-Stout as of August 2015, but held the title of interim provost and vice chancellor for academic and student affairs multiple times since January 2013.

She started as a high school social studies and psychology teacher in 1975, then became a school psychologist for 17 years before holding an array of faculty and academic staff positions at UW-Stout.

She earned her bachelor’s degree from Cornell (Iowa) in Psychology and Secondary Education, an Education Specialist degree from the University of Kansas in School Psychology and a doctorate in Educational Psychology from the University of Minnesota.

Weissenburger’s open forum will be from 3 to 4:15 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 3.

Susan Elrod, California State University

Elrod hails from California State University, Chico campus, where she has been serving as the interim provost and vice president for academic affairs since October 2014. Previously, she served as the dean of the College of Science and Mathematics at California State’s Fresno campus for a year and took on multiple roles in the mathematics and science department at the California Polytechnic State University from 2002 to 2009.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences with a minor in Chemistry from California’s Chico campus and her doctorate in Genetics from the University of California.

Elrod’s open forum will be from 3 to 4:15 p.m. Monday, Feb. 8.

John Stone, UW-Whitewater

Stone currently serves as the interim provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at UW-W, stepping in for former provost and current Chancellor Beverly Kopper, along with retaining his position of dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Continuing Education on campus. He started as the associate dean for the College in 1995.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota in 1980 and went on to earn his doctorate degree from the University of Minnesota in Communication with emphasis in Rhetorical Criticism and Organizational Communication in 1990.

Stone’s open forum will be from 3 to 4:15 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 10.