Schools

For more than two years, USF will scour for a provost

The vice provost will step in while the exhaustive search is conducted.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER, Times Staff Writer
Published November 8, 2007

TAMPA - Call it a slow and steady search.

University of South Florida officials will spend the next 2 1/2 years searching for their new No. 2 administrator. In the meantime, vice provost Ralph Wilcox will fill the provost's spot to be left vacant at the end of this year, when longtime Provost Renu Khator leaves USF to lead the University of Houston system.

USF president Judy Genshaft isn't calling Wilcox "interim" provost, but she is forming a search committee that will look nationwide for a permanent replacement. Faculty Senate president Michael Barber will lead that group.

Wilcox has been vice provost since 2003.

He previously was interim vice president and campus executive officer at USF's St. Petersburg campus.

He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Alberta, Canada, a master's degree from Washington State University, and a baccalaureate degree from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom.

"We're fortunate to have someone of Dr. Wilcox's caliber at USF who can step into the provost position," said Genshaft. "He is an exceptionally talented academic leader, researcher and educator. The office will be in very capable hands."

[Last modified November 8, 2007, 00:24:28]