We were surprised to hear of Schuster’s decision to step down from the post of provost, but are glad he will be staying on at Tech, as he did a good job in all the roles he has served here, especially stepping up as interim president.
With Schuster’s resignation, we look forward to the future provost with hope for positive change. This change cannot happen without targeting specific traits for the new provost during the search for his successor.
This search must specifically look for diversity of candidates. This does not just mean looking for candidates from varying roles around Tech, but a full national search that will allow us to pick from top candidates everywhere. At the same time, a nationwide search does not mean we should adopt the mind set that an in-house hire would be a failure. This may mean that the best candidate would be a person with some sort of connection with the Institute, be it an alum, a former professor or other role.
Tech must consider a variety of candidates who are focused on progressive moves for Tech’s future while staying in touch with our culture. At the very least, by the time the new provost starts, they should be well aware of the unique Tech culture to ensure that we do not change the core of what Tech is, but rather revise the way we do business.
Diversity of candidates must finally ensure that the true diversity of the student population is represented in every aspect from considering hiring of people with non-engineering backgrounds to a true consideration of the female population in the upper echelons of power at Tech.
A new provost is only one of many newly replaced positions on campus in the past year. With so much new blood on campus, we hope that it will be a catalyst of change that will improve campus, without losing the character of Tech in the process.