Provost

Valparaiso University seeks a seasoned leader with deep administrative and academic experience to serve as its next provost, joining a vibrant and complex independent institution with a longstanding national reputation for academic excellence and innovation guided by its Lutheran mission and ethos. The freedom to pursue truth and to serve others unites and informs the university's academic and spiritual missions within a community that celebrates and embraces students, faculty and staff from all backgrounds and faiths.

Valparaiso University – or “Valpo” as the university is popularly known – offers more than 70 degree programs to 3,100 students engaged by more than 300 faculty in four colleges: Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Nursing and Health Professions and Business. Valpo also has a distinguished honors college, Christ College, and offers more than 25 degree and certificate programs in its Graduate School and Continuing Education program. Valpo provides its students with both a transformative liberal arts education and a wide array of professional programs that prepare them to lead and serve the needs of their communities, organizations and world. Valpo's academic environment has long been recognized as one of the finest in the Midwest by U.S. News and World Report and other publications; it was recently re-classified as a Carnegie national Doctoral/Professional University.

The incoming provost will be a key advisor and thought partner to President-Elect José D. Padilla, who will be joining Valparaiso University in spring 2021 as its nineteenth president. The provost will play an integral role in the new university leadership team by actively collaborating with the president and a creative and dedicated faculty, staff, alumni and student body in establishing Valpo's goals and aspirations in the form of a new strategic plan. The strategic plan will build on the university's foundation, which is rooted in the Lutheran tradition of scholarship, freedom and faith and propel it forward to an exciting new chapter in its history.

Valpo's new provost will be a communicative, engaging and transparent leader, ready to support a campus community that is eager to engage in strategy and operating decisions that impact the university's future. The provost will also ensure a robust and compelling academic program by continuing to create, analyze and support multiple delivery modalities that address the needs of various student populations, specific program goals and market demand. The new provost will possess the many key attributes necessary to lead the institution through change, including the ability to inspire and instill optimism and confidence; a dedication to a strong core liberal arts curriculum integrated with high quality professional programs; a propensity for data-driven decision making; and outstanding communication skills. Critical to the new provost's success will be a record of progressive and successful leadership and management experience with a team-based approach to problem solving and execution.

All applications, nominations, and inquiries are invited. For fullest consideration, candidate materials should be received by March 29, 2021. Applications should include, as separate documents, a CV or resume and a letter of interest addressing the themes in the profile, available at www.wittkieffer.com. For more information, questions or nominations, please contact the Valparaiso consultants Dennis Barden, Jen Meyers Pickard, Ph.D. and Ashlee Winters at ValpoProvost@wittkieffer.com.

Valparaiso University is an equal-opportunity, affirmative-action employer. See https://www.valpo.edu/general-counsel/policies/equal-opportunity-policy/ for a detailed statement of its practices.