Faculty chair pushes U of A to find internal candidate for provost

The University of Arizona faculty chair is pushing for an internal candidate for the provostship after Provost Joseph Glover, hired after a national search, announced he’s leaving after just one month on the job.

Leila Hudson, the Faculty Senate chair and an associate professor at the UA, released a statement Thursday suggesting both the interim provost and the next provost should be found within the university.

“Our future president will be able to appoint a chosen provost, and we have excellent internal candidates for both the short and the long-term academic leadership position,” she said.

Glover announced Tuesday evening he is leaving. He will return to the University of Florida, where he had taught since the 1980s, to take over as interim provost. He previously served as provost of the University of Florida for 15 years.

Glover’s announcement came less than a week after the Arizona Board of Regents chose University of Vermont President Suresh Garimella to serve as the UA’s 23rd president.

A university provost typically serves as the head of academic affairs. Glover, who started at the UA on July 1 with a salary of $550,000, was chosen by lame-duck President Robert C. Robbins after a nationwide search, and after Robbins had announced his own impending departure.

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Hudson blamed the “leadership transitions and turbulence” at the UA on the “encroachment of politics into the academy, the shortsighted divestment from the public academic mission and the erosion of traditional faculty governance mechanisms to ensure accountability of management.”

More than 100 UA faculty members signed a letter during the provost search endorsing Glover’s opponent, Dean of the College of Communication at Pennsylvania State University Marie Hardin. Robbins still chose Glover.

“The good news is that the University of Arizona faculty, workforce and community has developed a practical understanding of what ails public higher education and is eager to work with experiences and conscientious new leadership to address our issues head on,” Hudson wrote.

It is unclear if the next interim provost will be chosen by Robbins or by incoming president Garimella. Garimella’s start date is unknown, and Glover will return to the University of Florida on Sept. 6.

“The faculty will continue to work for accountability and innovative solutions and other universities will follow our lead,” Hudson wrote in her statement. “We keep our eyes firmly fixed on the academic mission, our students and the state of Arizona.”