MCLA Releases Names of Presidential Finalists
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Three finalists have emerged for the post of president of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.
The college's board of trustees on Friday morning released the names of the candidates as Jane McBride Gates, provost and vice president of academic affairs at Western Connecticut State University; Paula Krebs, dean of College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Bridgewater State University; and Greg Summers, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point.
The finalists were recommended after the 14-member Presidential Search Committee, made up of faculty, administration, students, trustees and staff, interviewed more than a dozen potential candidates in early January.
The successful finalist will replace Mary K. Grant, who lead the college for a dozen years becoming chancellorship of the University of North Carolina at Asheville.
Professional backgrounds of the three finalists for president include:
Jane McBride Gates is currently provost and vice president of academic affairs at Western Connecticut State University. She was dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and professor of political science at Savannah State University and interim vice president for academic affairs. She also was interim associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Arkansas State University.
Gates has completed the Harvard School of Education Management Development Program, the Leadership America Forum, and the Harvard Graduate School Institute for Management and Leadership. She received her undergraduate education at Arkansas State University, a master's degree in public administration from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, and a doctorate with areas of concentration in organizational behavior, public policy analysis, legislative process and Chinese politics from Southern Illinois University.
Paula Krebs is currently the dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Bridgewater State University. She worked in the president's office at Wheaton College, where she helped establish partnerships with other colleges, the community, and local government. A Victorian scholar and longtime English professor at Wheaton, she has published works on British imperial culture, including books on the Boer War and on Rudyard Kipling. She has worked for many years on issues of diversity in higher education and has been published in various publications, including the Chronicle of Higher Education.
She received her undergraduate education at La Salle College (now University), and her doctorate with areas of concentration in 19th-century British and American literature from Indiana University.
Greg Summers is the provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point, where he began as a faculty member in the Department of History in 2001. His research and teaching interests are in U.S. environmental history, the history of technology, and consumerism. He is author of "Consuming Nature: Environmentalism in the Fox River Valley, 1850-1950" (University Press of Kansas, 2006). Although currently serving in an administrative role, he continues to work on his next book project, "The Comforts of Nature: A Brief Natural History of the American Home" (University of Washington Press, in progress).
He received his undergraduate education at the University of Akron in Ohio, a master's degree in U.S. history from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and a doctorate in U.S. nistory from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
The search was facilitated by Archer Martin Associates consulting firm, which recruited candidates who met the criteria and qualifications for the next president at MCLA. A group of 58 applicants was forwarded to the committee, which selected 13 to interview.
Trustee Susan Gold, co-chairman of search committee, said she is very pleased with the pool of finalists.
"The committee has advanced the best candidates from a nationwide search," Gold said. "There was a high level of interest in the position, which helped us identify a diverse and strong group of finalists."
Fellow trustee and committee co-Chairman Mohan Boodram said, "We look forward to welcoming each of the finalists to campus in the coming weeks to meet with our students, faculty, and staff to share their visions for the future of the college. I would like to thank every member of the Presidential Search Committee for offering their time and expertise to this important search."
The finalists are scheduled to visit the campus during the first two weeks of February. The trustees are expected to recommend its selection of a new president to the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education by March.
