Belmont President Greg Jones opened Monday’s faculty senate meeting with a report on changes that have been in the works for this past year and a preview of a “realignment” coming to the university.
“I'm sure that there'll be some things that we don't get right along the way. And we'll continue to adapt. So just think of realignment as an ongoing improvisational jazz group,” said Jones.
He addressed how he plans to stabilize Belmont’s growth and gave a preview of a presentation open to all faculty on Wednesday, which he says will include more details on his plans.
“I do want to just signal that I have asked Dr. Amy Crook to be overseeing pathway one, which is whole person formation,” said Jones.
This means that Crook, who is the vice president for transformative innovation, character and purpose, will oversee areas “more co-curricularly focused” such as BELL-core and WELL-core, said Jones.
Jones said he would provide more details at Wednesday’s presentation, which he said will not address the realignment of colleges.
During Monday’s meeting Jones also gave an update on the search for a new provost, saying there is a national search being conducted by a committee which will include faculty members. It was announced last week that Dr. Thomas Burns would conclude his time as provost on May 31.
“My target would be that'd be great if we had a new person in place by January 1, but that's not going to be an artificial deadline that kind of drives us. We'll keep moving until we find the right person,” said Jones.
Jones praised Burns for his contributions to Belmont’s growth over the past two decades, mentioning the potential need to slow down for the university’s infrastructure to catch up.
“So I'm not opposed to growth. I think it's a good thing because if things aren't growing, they're usually declining. But we also need to think about pruning, which isn't just getting rid of dead stuff. It’s also pruning things to enable other things to grow.”
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This article was written by Connor Daryani.
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