The search for the new vice provost for the Office of Minority Affairs has been narrowed to four candidates.Interim President Richard Sisson appointed a search committee in September 1997 to fill the vacancy left by Leroy Pernell, who resigned to become the dean of the College of Law at Northern Illinois in June 1997. Barbara J. Rich, who succeeded Pernell, has been the interim vice provost since Aug. 1, 1997. Her term ends June 30.After the committee, that is composed of students, faculty, and staff at Ohio State, examined the 109 applications it received, eight candidates were chosen and invited to campus for a preliminary screening in January, said William T. McDaniel, chairman of the search committee and professor in the Department of African-American and African Studies and School of Music. Finalists for the position are:

  • Mac A. Stewart, dean of OSU’s University College
  • Ernestine Madison, vice provost for human relations and resource at Washington State University
  • Paul Barrows, associate vice chancellor of academic affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Sondra O’Neale, dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Wayne State University.

“We were looking for the best leader, a person who would serve the interests of OMA,” McDaniel said. “We felt these [four] candidates represented the qualities we were seeking for the leader of OMA.” In a letter, Sisson stated the job of the vice provost includes heading the Office of Minority Affairs, working with the provost in the Office of Academic Affairs, helping in the Faculty Hiring Assistance Program, increasing the retention and graduation rates of minority and non-minority students and recruiting minority students and faculty to the university.Applicants must have a doctorate degree, leadership skills, administrative skills and extensive multicultural experience in higher education, especially in teaching, Sisson wrote.The vice provost is the official liaison between the administration and the union, said Ricardo Wilkins, a senior majoring in CIS and president of the Afrikan Student Union. The members of the union wrote a letter stating the qualities they want the new vice provost to possess.”We are putting faith in the committee that it chooses a good candidate for the position,” Wilkins said.The union’s members are concerned about the financial needs of minorities, lack of minority faculty and funding for minority programming at OSU, said Wilkins.Cinnamon Pelly, a senior majoring in pre-med and African-American and African studies, said the new leader needs to be aggressive in order to address the concerns of minority students, increase the retention rate of minority students at OSU, secure scholarships, and enhance programming. Pelly said the new vice provost should get more students involved in the reconstruction of the office and work hard to ensure that the renovations of the Frank W. Hale Black Cultural Center happen in a timely fashion. McDaniel said the provost for academic affairs will make the final decision. He hopes the vice provost of the office will start at the beginning of fall quarter.