Drake University is in search of a new leader for Drake Online. The position has been refashioned as an Associate Provost over Online Programming. We hope the title update will both attract curious and talented candidates while also better describing the academic and institutional significance of this critical role.

The search committee chairs are Jenny Jones, director, Graduate Programs in the Zimpleman College of Business, and Chris Snider, associate professor of in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. They will support the full committee, which also includes:

• Maggie Fiala, who will wear two hats on the committee—both employee, as the director of Experiential External Affairs, and student—as a current online graduate student.
• Keren Fiorenza, chief information & technology officer
• Jenny Trans-Johnson, registrar
• Ryan Wise, dean, School of Education
• Ryan Zantingh, director of Student Financial Aid

The search committee is excited to get the search underway. Earlier this week, the search chairs met with the deans to hear their ideas and thoughts on qualities to seek out during the search.

“One of the phrases that stuck with me in listening to the deans,” shared Chris Snider, “was that the new hire will be in the position to create a vision to move Drake University to the next phase in online learning. This will be a great way to frame the role as we talk to candidates.”

In reflecting upon Drake Online’s journey, the Provost shared, “five years ago, bringing fully online program pedagogy to Drake was a huge turning point in Drake’s history. Christina Trombley led us through that change, put a strong and stable organizational foundation in place, supported program growth and financial stewardship, and achieved enrollment goals. We are taking the opportunity now to consider what the next five years of online programming look like. I expect the next leader to bring expertise to facilitate having that discussion and building consensus around a vision.”

The posting is now live on Drake’s job board, Jobs@Drake, and the search chairs are working with Drake Human Resources to get the job posted on external sites to assure it gets appropriate visibility to attract a large, diverse, and exciting pool of applicants. University Marketing & Communications is getting in on the collaborative spirit as well and will help finalize a detailed position profile, similar to what we used in the recent Dean of Admission search.

— Maureen De Armond, Human Resources