Provost Search Nearing End
As Interim Provost Calvin White’s term ends, King’s seeks new provost
Empire State Building, NEW YORK– Faculty of The King’s College are wrapping up a search to find a new provost for the school after Provost Emeritus Marvin Olasky stepped down last year. An advisory committee interviewed three candidates for the position during the Fall 2011 semester.
While Chief Administrative Officer Duanne Moeller said in December that the committee was "hoping to make a decision right after the first of the year," they are now anticipating a decision will be made sometime in the next two months.
In December, the Provost Search Committee submitted a report on the candidates to President D'Souza, and they are now waiting for his feedback.
According to D'Souza, who has reviewed the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate, he is "very close to a decision" and the search is "reaching its final stage."
In addition to Moeller, the committee includes faculty/staff members Brian Parker, Calvin White, Politics Professor Dr. David Innes, Economics Professor Brian Brenberg, Media, Culture and the Arts Dean Dr. Harry Bleattler, Dec. '11 graduate Bria Sanford and students David Linamen and Tim Wainwright.
Calvin White, former Associate Provost, has been filling the spot temporarily and will resume his position as Associate Provost once the new provost takes office.
For the first step of the provost search, faculty members were asked to provide the school with recommendations for the position. This request provided the school with a list of about 25 potential candidates, which President D’Souza then narrowed down to ten.
King’s contacted these candidates to see which of them were interested in the position. President D’Souza then invited the top three to come speak and interview at the school. The school invited two of the three provost candidates to the campus to interview and give two lectures each, open to students and faculty alike. If the new provost is one of the two candidates who are new to King’s, he will officially take office over the summer, but if Politics professor and Politics, Philosophy and Economics Dean Dr. David Corbin is chosen, he will take office during the spring 2012 semester.
White spoke to students about academics at a lunchtime meeting on Oct. 13 before the provost candidate lectures began. Dr. John Mark Reynolds, the first of the candidates to interview and speak, gave his lectures Nov. 2 and 3 and interviewed that same week. Both he and second candidate Dr. Joe Knippenberg discussed Plato at length in their academic lectures. Reynolds has both a Ph.D. and M.A. in Philosophy, as well as a B.A. in Religion. He serves as a Fellow at Discovery Institute and as the Associate Professor of Philosophy and Founder/Director of the Torrey Institute at Biola University, among other additional occupations.
Knippenberg, second candidate to come to the school, was referred to the position by Dr. Innes, whom Knippenberg had known when Innes was in undergraduate school. Knippenberg gave his lectures Nov. 14 and 15 on “Tuition Tax Credits, the Establishment Clause and the Standing to Sue” and “Liberal Education and Republican Self-Government.” He holds a B.A. in Justice, Morality and Constitutional Democracy, as well as an M.A. and Ph.D. in Politics.
Knippenberg praised King's for its “combination of a serious engagement with faith and serious engagement with the traditional liberal arts" and "the fact that it’s still in a kind of start-up phase, so individuals can make a huge difference here, helping the institution become what it ought to be.”
Last December, Corbin gave the first of his two lectures and interviewed. His first lecture asked what politics is, and whether it is a good idea for people within a political society to be involved in politics. His second lecture discussed Leo Strauss and asked the question, “What is political philosophy?”
Moeller anticipates the committee will reach a decision by March 1, when the Board of Directors will meet at Campus Crusade's headquarters in Orlando, Florida.