New TU provost interviewed

In the interview, Justice said he plans to make “a positive difference” at TU.

Shelby Hiens News Editor

On Jan. 18, President Brad Carson announced that the search for a new provost was over. George Justice has been appointed as the University of Tulsa’s next provost and executive vice president for academic affairs beginning July 1.

Justice received a bachelor’s degree in English at Wesleyan University followed by a master’s degree and doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania. He specializes in 18th century British literature and is considered a distinguished scholar of Jane Austen.

Justice is currently an English professor at Arizona State University. He previously served as dean of humanities and associate vice president for arts and humanities in the university’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences from 2013 to 2017. Before his deanship at the Arizona state school, Justice was a member of the English faculty at the University of Missouri, where he served as vice provost for advanced studies and dean of the Graduate School from 2010 to 2013. Justice also taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Marquette University and Louisiana State University prior to joining the University of Missouri in 2002.

I reached out to Justice in an email to get his thoughts on the provostship and TU. When asked about his goals for the position, the new provost expressed his desire to “support the faculty and staff who create such an incredible learning environment for the students at TU.” He said that he planned to lead with “collaboration” as his primary tactic. “We’ll have a lot of conversations: with faculty, with staff, with the university leadership, with community stakeholders. Change is dependent on talent and resources, and part of the provost’s job is to bring talented faculty, staff, and students to campus,” he added.

Justice also expressed interest in improving TU’s academic potential. He said, “I am hopeful that in concert with President Carson’s vision for the university and working with the faculty, we’ll both improve the current offerings and create new academic programs that serve students. TU has a nearly unique mix of strong liberal arts programs and professional programs with a small student body that can take advantage of all of it.”

With the struggle and division True Commitment incited in 2019 that caused the university’s faculty to vote no confidence in former president and provost, Gerard Clancy and Janet Levit respectively, students are curious to see how Justice will measure up in the coming semester. True Commitment was a reorganization plan that proposed to make budget cuts and eliminate 40% of the academic programs TU offers.

When asked if he felt heading TU’s academia is a daunting task, he responded, “Yes—not because I don’t feel up to it, but because the university’s students, staff, and faculty deserve a provost who can lead with vision—and also competently manage the complexity of the academic enterprise at the university. What’s daunting is the expectations that the university rightly has for the job I will do.” He said that the provost search committee described the university as “an institution with a combination of nationally recognized programs and a general excellence that is looking for re-energization after a couple of complicated years.”

Justice also expanded on his outside perspective of the on-campus struggles, saying they “resulted… from a clash among people who were, and are, all deeply committed to the institution. TU is, in my view, in a very strong strategic position in the landscape of American higher education… People see the university’s academic excellence and large endowment and believe, as I do, that there is potential to do things differently, and better, than any university in the country.”

However, Justice also said, “It will be a relief to work at TU, where I’ll be expected (and will want) to get to know nearly everyone on campus.” ASU has a total enrollment of over 134,500 students as of fall 2021, whereas TU has a total enrollment of 3,837 students. Justice acknowledged this overwhelming difference and explained that “ASU is optimized for scale, and much of my work was to keep things personalized while serving the immense number of students.”

Justice accepted the provost position because he believes in making “a positive difference, not only for people who are on campus now, but for the many thousands who will come to campus over the next few decades.” He found that his “firm commitment to academic excellence is shared by everyone” including President Carson, the Board of Trustees and staff members he met as he toured campus. Justice also said that “Someone who works in the student center went a half hour out of her way to get me a cup of coffee that I really wanted prior to one of my big interviews! That kind of personal care was amazing.”

As for moving to Tulsa, Justice said “The city seems amazing… I am in awe of the commitment of residents to Tulsa, and its cultural opportunities are unparalleled for a city of its size. I am very excited to move to Tulsa this summer!”

When Justice begins his duties at the start of the fall semester, he hopes that “students will take the time to meet with me and let me know what’s on their minds.”

courtesy utulsa.edu Justice is currently a professor at Arizona State University and will begin his provost duties on July 1.

The election consists of four candidates running unopposed for leadership roles within Student Association.

Shelby Hiens News Editor

Student Association is responsible for allocating funding for organizations, chartering new organizations, advocating for student interests, representing the student body and planning events. There are three branches of the association: executive, judicial and senate. While every student at TU is considered a member of SA, those who are elected to positions are distinguished as SA Leadership.

On Feb. 3, a virtual press conference was held over Zoom to interview the executive candidates and preview their platforms and agendas for SA. The conference was organized by Caroline Williams, Director of Membership for the association.

This semester, there are only four candidates running for executive positions. Justin Yang is running for president, Asa Scott for vice president, Sarah Tran for secretary and Campbell Rogerson for treasurer.

Justin Yang is a biochemistry major on the pre-dental track and the current secretary of SA. The junior described his platform with a focal point on connection and communication between students, SA and administration to “enjoy and value the things that come out of Student Association on a deeper level.” Yang said that a prominent issue he wants to address is the disconnect between the student body and SA. He stated, “TU is definitely a place where the social aspect from the university can definitely grow. One of my biggest plans to work on that is potentially creating… [an] executive cabinet position.” Yang plans on “creating a Director of Public Relations” who’s role would be “to interact with students on a personal level.” He added that “A Director of Public Relations… could really work closely with the Director of Organizational Outreach to reach presidents of organizations and meet with them and really emphasize the different things that can be done through SA or through their own [organizations] with the help of SA.”

Asa Scott is a political science and chemistry major on the pre-law track, currently serving as the Government Operations Committee chair in SA. Scott expressed interest in a “far more diverse representation in Student Association” as part of his platform. The junior acknowledged that SA represents many groups and communities on campus currently, but he would “still like to see that grow… especially with more non-greek members because… that is a decent concentration of Student Association membership.” Scott said he has been a senator for three years and that one of the vice president’s main responsibilities is leading the senate. He said, “I want to see better student to senator representation” and ensure that “we have actual issues… coming from the students to be discussed on the Senate floor.” Scott also wants to work towards “a far more student facing SA leadership” and “more cohesion” within their ranks.

Sarah Tran is a clinical psychology major that is minoring in speech pathology and gender studies, currently serving as a clerk in the judicial branch. As she is a freshman who joined SA last semester, she recognized that her “experience has not been quite as extensive” as the other candidates, but that her position in judicial has trained her to

have a “very observant ear.” Tran said that she plans to “improve intra-SA communication… to make a more unified team” as well as “promote more communication between SA and the student body itself” as she described her platform. As secretary, Tran said her core responsibilities would be “keeping minutes and staying on track of all the archives for SA and posting those minutes online and making sure that everyone keeps attendance with meetings.”

Campbell Rogerson is an accounting major with a minor in sports management and the current Director of Marketing for SA. As part of his platform, Rogerson said he wanted to focus on “simplify[ing] the OSP [Organizational Strategic Plan] process a little bit more because I know it can be… a hectic time and rules change all the time.” He also expressed interest in being “fiscally responsible with the funds that are given to us.” Rogerson stated that “for the past several years… everyone [has been] a good financial steward of the money, and I would hope to continue that trend.” The junior said he plans on “making the Shared Services Center work a little bit better… I just know this year in specific with Shared Services, there have been some hiccups” with communication of rules.

Another goal of the executive candidates is to host a Springfest that is “a lot more interactive for students, whether it’s… more events or smaller events that more students can attend,” according to Yang. He said, “One thing that I really would like to do… [is] actually have students vote for the artist. I don’t know if that’s super super viable, but I would love to work with the cabinet to get a little bit more of an idea rather than voting for just the genre of music that they like.” Scott added that SA has “some very experienced senior cabinet members that are taking the lead on Springfest and they’re super excited for it.”

When the candidates were asked about making SA information more accessible to the student body, Scott took the lead. “The senators are not communicating with their constituents… I think a big reason why that is is it’s a consequence of the pandemic… I think it’s very important that we have students, or, senators that are actually going out and reestablishing that connection with people that live in whatever residence hall they represent or the College of Business or ENS [College of Engineering and Natural Sciences], et cetera and are making those connections appear again,” Scott stated. Rogerson elaborated on the Student Association Hub that was created over break to “help make these resources a lot more easily accessible to students.”

When Yang was asked how he planned to respond to issues affecting students such as the catalytic converter thefts that have been occurring on campus, he responded with, “as a Student Association, we’re in charge of kind of rallying the students and really hearing y’all’s voices and conveying that to the administration.” He added, “I personally will not be patrolling the parking lots making sure no one is nabbing catalytic converters but I will do my best to encourage students and the student body to relay and convey that message to the administration… I personally would love to do something about that in terms of communication with the administration and actually getting something to happen, but I can’t promise anything tangible from Student Association.”

The executive election will begin Feb. 16 at 9 a.m. and end on Feb. 17 at 9 p.m. Students can vote on Harvey by pulling up organizations then Student Association, where a vote option will be presented. Once the election is open, a ballot will be available for students to submit their votes.

courtesy utulsa.edu