Provost

Alvernia University seeks a Provost who is an innovative, visionary, collaborative, and student-centered leader.  Working in close partnership with the President and the other members of the university’s senior leadership team, the Provost will lead this highly entrepreneurial, mission-driven, and student-centered institution to its next level of academic excellence, student success, and faculty support and engagement. In addition, the Provost will be a visible leader on campus and in the greater Reading community, modeling Alvernia’s Franciscan core values of contemplation, collegiality, humility, service, and peacemaking.

Alvernia University, a private Franciscan institution rooted in the tradition of Catholic higher education and located in Reading, Pennsylvania and a regional comprehensive university serving all of eastern Pennsylvania, combines a liberal arts foundation with a broad range of academic and professional programs. With an enrollment of nearly 3,000 undergraduate, graduate, and adult students, Alvernia creates a learning environment that is meant to be formative and transformative, committed to service and ethical leadership and to doing well and doing good. Combining the personal touch and attention of a small private college with the opportunities of an outstanding comprehensive regional university, Alvernia is thriving and poised for continued growth.

As Alvernia’s Chief Academic Officer, the Provost is a member of the President’s senior leadership team and reports directly to the President.  The Provost serves as an advocate for Alvernia’s faculty and academic programs while also working collaboratively and collegially with the other members of the Senior Administration in executing the university’s Strategic Plan, The Alvernia Advantage. The successful candidate will listen, encourage, empower, and influence to promote change, shape outcomes, and systematically position the institution for continued success. The ideal candidate should possess a record of academic, administrative, and teaching excellence, as well as interprofessional collaboration and inclusive decision-making.

Key strategic opportunities for the next Provost include:

• Ensuring that the university’s Franciscan Catholic values and liberal arts grounding remain central to the university’s culture and the academic endeavor;
• Providing the leadership, dynamic vision, and advocacy necessary to continually enhance the quality of Alvernia’s outstanding faculty and academic programs and the learning and growth of its students;
• Demonstrating the value of Alvernia’s unique educational model that supports community engagement, economic development, and student success through the CollegeTowne model and the O’Pake Institute for Economic Development and Entrepreneurship;
• Capitalizing on trends toward partnership in the region’s academic sector as well as demographic shifts to ensure that current and future academic programs are aligned with the economic needs of the region and emerging market needs; and
• Fostering a collective identity across the institution’s four colleges, functional areas, and multiple locations to create shared partnerships and a collegial and collaborative atmosphere of committed service to students, faculty, and staff.

More information about this opportunity can be found in the position profile above.

Nominations and Applications

The Search Committee will begin reviewing applications immediately. To assure full consideration, applications should be received by March 27, 2023 and must include the following:

• A letter of interest addressing Alvernia’s strategic objectives and the desired attributes identified in the position profile;
• A curriculum vitae; and
• Five professional references with email addresses and telephone numbers, including their relationship to the candidate. References will not be contacted without prior authorization from the candidate.

Applications should be sent electronically to: AlverniaProvost@agbsearch.com

PDF format is preferred.

Please direct nominations and inquiries to:

Matthew J. Kilcoyne, Principal, matt.kilcoyne@agbsearch.com / (202) 253-9846

Concetta M. Stewart, Ph.D., Principal, concetta.stewart@agbsearch.com / (908) 341-2178

Alvernia University is an equal opportunity employer committed to Franciscan values. All employees share responsibility for advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the performance of their roles while demonstrating: service orientation, respect for all, intellectual curiosity, solution focus and innovation, and mutual accountability.  Alvernia University strives to be a community supportive of diverse perspectives and identities and strongly encourages applications from women and minorities.