Hood has seen its fair share of transitions these past couple of years, especially when it comes to staffing changes. Students are no strangers to welcome lunches, search committees and presentations from possible administrative and leadership position candidates.
2015 brought with it the farewell to President Ronald J. Volpe and welcomed Dr. Andrea E. Chapdelaine as our current president. With a semester under Dr. Chapdelaine’s belt, and after several changes to the Student Engagement team, staffing interest has shifted back to the position of the provost.
Dr. Kate Conway-Turner used to hold the position of Provost before leaving Hood to accept a position as President of SUNY Buffalo State. During this transition and while the presidential search was under way, Dr. Edgar Schick took on the role of Interim Provost.
While the Hood community was in the know about a search committee looking for a new provost to join Dr. Chapdelaine, it came as quite the surprise to learn that Dr. Schick’s contract was ended early. In an email to Hood faculty on Feb. 1, President Chapdelaine announced that she had ended the contracted services of Dr. Edgar Schick and that his last day would be Friday, Feb. 5.
President Chapdelaine wrote: “I am grateful to Dr. Schick for his service during this period of transition and wish him well in future endeavors.”
The letter to faculty went on to inform that the search for a new provost was underway and that she expected to appoint someone to the position this summer. She also requested that anyone interested in assisting her and Julie Chalk in their efforts to fulfill the provost’s responsibilities should contact her.
When The Blue and Grey approached President Chapdelaine for a followup, she apologized that an email had not gotten out to the students about the decision as was originally intended, and a day later, students received the same letter that the faculty originally did.
President Chapdelaine also said that she could not comment on the decision to end the contract because it is a “personnel matter”.
President Chapdelaine was happy to share that she was busy working on details to divide and concur the work of the provost and she was grateful to already have heard from several faculty members who had offered to help dedicate their time and support.
During the same week that Dr. Schick’s contract was ended, President Chapdelaine was in Washington D.C. to conduct the first round of interviews for provost. As stands, there are 13 candidates, but Dr. Chapdelaine plans to select between three and five to invite to campus for interviews during the week of February 21st.
When attempting to contact former Interim Provost Schick for comment, an automatic email reply stated, “Effective February 2, 2016, Dr. Schick is no longer with Hood College” though staff, faculty and students were told that Dr. Schick’s last day would be Feb. 5.
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