As Oakland University continues searching for the next permanent senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, the two final candidates for the position have removed themselves from consideration.

The announcement was made March 20 in an email sent to faculty and staff from political science professor and provost search committee chair, Dave Dulio.

“As you may have heard, the final two candidates for the position of senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at Oakland University have removed their names from consideration,” Dulio wrote. “The committee is disappointed that each candidate has made the decision to do so, as we believe either would have made a fine chief academic officer.”

The search was narrowed down to Keith Moo-Young, professor and dean of the College of Engineering, Computer Science and Technology at California State University, Los Angeles, and Prema Arasu, vice provost of international programs and professor of parasitology at Washington State University.

According to both Dulio and Oakland University Student Congress President Samantha Wolf, Moo-Young withdrew his name from consideration after accepting a position at a different university.

He was named chancellor of Washington State University Tri-Cities March 12, according to the university’s website.

Arasu said it ultimately comes down to finding a provost who is the right fit for the university, and she withdrew because it was not the right fit for her.

Search details

The search to find someone to fill the position permanently began in August 2012 after former provost, Virinder Moudgil, accepted an offer to become president of Lawrence Technological University.

After his departure, former senior associate provost Susan Awbrey was named interim senior vice president for academic affairs and provost May 4.

The search committee received 68 applications for the position from across the nation, according to Dulio.

After members of the search committee reviewed each application and narrowed down a list of semifinalists, they then narrowed further down to four candidates.

These candidates were invited to campus. Based on the campus visits and feedback, the committee formed a recommendation for University President Gary Russi and advanced two names, according to Dulio.

“President Russi took our recommendations and invited both of the individuals back to campus for a second round of conversations with key groups on campus and conducted his own background research through a number of high-level reference checks,” Dulio wrote in his email to faculty and staff. “An offer was made to one candidate who, after more than a week of discussions and negotiations, decided to withdraw. The second candidate withdrew before an offer could be extended.”

The next steps

After both candidates withdrew, the search committee met with Russi March 19 and decided to extend the search.

“We (the search committee) will continue to review candidate materials. We will revisit select candidates in the existing pool, and our search firm — Academic Search — will contact these candidates to let them know we are interested in exploring their candidacy further. We will also entertain new applications — external and internal,” Dulio wrote.

The committee will decide who advances and neutral site and campus interviews will be scheduled, according to Dulio.

Nominations are still open for candidates. Those interested can submit materials to Academic Search through [email protected]

According to the original search timeline, whomever was selected to serve would have assumed the position July 1.

Wolf said the selection process will now be sped up to less than one month. The committee plans to conduct off-campus interviews during the first week of April and the on-campus interviews during the final week.

Moving forward

Despite the change in plans, Wolf said she believes that everything happens for a reason and students should look at this as a positive for the university, because it allows them to find the best provost for OU.

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Contact Campus Editor Natalie Popovski via email at [email protected]