Provost Laurie Nichols named Wyoming's next President

[JimmyJack]

Re: Provost Laurie Nichols named Wyoming's next President

Interesting take. He'd maybe be the only person at State I could think that would have a shot as an internal candidate.

Is the jump from Dean to Prez too large? Could he be a candidate for Provost?

Sometimes it's too big a jump. But at SDSU the College of Ag & Bio is very large and a huge part of everything that happens at State. Plus, Dean Dunn is very well respected across the entire campus. I can see the Dean to President thing happening.

[Nidaros]

Re: Provost Laurie Nichols named Wyoming's next President

Sometimes it's too big a jump. But at SDSU the College of Ag & Bio is very large and a huge part of everything that happens at State. Plus, Dean Dunn is very well respected across the entire campus. I can see the Dean to President thing happening.

Yes the College of Ag & Bio is big and when you read the history of SDSU, one of the big down falls of President Headley was that his background was in education, secondary and elementary and had no experience in agriculture. There were at that time a group of certain individuals in the Agriculture depts. who had ambitions of their own, which might not have been in tune with the mission of the College of Agriculture and SDSU. These ambitions were the start of a number of problems that President Headley could not handle. In all due respects to the Headley family, President Headley was a very much a gentleman, but was in over his head at SDSC. His replacement H. M. Briggs, came from all places the U of Wyoming where he had been Dean of Agriculture and knew his job well and in a very capable manner fixed a number of things when he came aboard at SDSU. The Ag & Bio Science is still big and depends still on Fed dollars to run the Experiment Station. I think Barry has got the game plan done in this area, and for that reason alone, I would not be disappointed if he is the next President at SDSU.

[slosho]

Re: Provost Laurie Nichols named Wyoming's next President

If I could nominate a Dean for president it would be Dr Lewis Brown Dean of engineering.

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[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: Provost Laurie Nichols named Wyoming's next President

Both H. M Briggs and Sherwood Berg came to their presidencies from Dean of Agriculture positions (Berg, U of Minnesota and Briggs, U of Wyoming). There is always a recognition by those choosing the president here that agriculture is a huge part of South Dakota State University and the state itself.

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Provost Laurie Nichols named Wyoming's next President

Sometimes it's too big a jump. But at SDSU the College of Ag & Bio is very large and a huge part of everything that happens at State. Plus, Dean Dunn is very well respected across the entire campus. I can see the Dean to President thing happening.

I would be very surprised if that happens.

[WestSideRabbit]

Re: Provost Laurie Nichols named Wyoming's next President

I wouldn't wager against it.

[Nidaros]

Re: Provost Laurie Nichols named Wyoming's next President

I wouldn't wager against it.

Neither would I. Like I said and Jack#1 alluded to being a Dean of Agriculture is a positive for becoming president at SDSU. How Peggy Miller managed as president without an agriculture background is open to speculation, but I tend to believe she was a very smart woman and knew who to trust and who not to trust when opinions were needed. The USDA money is still a big part of funding for the SDSU College of Agriculture. The College of Engineering is indeed a very vital and important part of SDSU, but in terms of funding its not the same as Agriculture. I guess we can blame Abe Lincoln for that, he signed the Morrill Act which got this funding stream started and somehow its darn hard to shut off.

[JimmyJack]

Re: Provost Laurie Nichols named Wyoming's next President

The case for Dean Dunn is pretty obvious. President Chicoine and Provost Nichols have created tremendous momentum. Bringing in a new person from the outside (presumably someone with their own series of ideas and priorities) always puts a university in a holding pattern for a time while the new person figures out the lay of the land. Promoting the third most influential person on the campus (arguably) would seem an obvious way to maintain the momentum while avoiding the learning curve that inevitably slows things down for a new person.