Carson Bonner, Campus Carrier news editor
After a year of serving as Berry’s interim provost, Associate Professor of Spanish David Slade has been officially appointed as provost. He has set goals for expanding and improving the Berry experience, as well as making Berry an attractive and beneficial option for incoming students.
A Berry alum, Slade experienced both sides of Berry: the student perspective and the administrative and faculty perspective. In his time as interim and previously associate provost, he witnessed and contributed to projects that have been implemented as methods of bettering the Berry environment, including the expansion
“I feel like this past year was a really positive year,” Slade said. “We jumped straight into some really big projects and it set us up for a great year. The biggest project has been the development of the Physician’s Assistant program. That had begun before I stepped in as interim provost, but we were starting the execution phase on a different level. We also continued some of our work around planning and developing a framework of continuity and consistency for the Berry student experience.”
Part of the hiring of Slade as the provost was due to the consistency of that framework. According to Berry President Steve Briggs, Slade had familiarity and experience in administrative roles, as well as seeing Berry from a teaching perspective as well. He had proven to be instrumental in transitional periods and in project progression.
“Last summer when we reviewed to see who was best equipped to step in as interim, we saw that having [Slade] would give him a great opportunity to carry on some of the projects that were ongoing and underway and see them through this past year,” Briggs said. “The Board of Trustees had established priorities and areas of emphasis for the college for us to carry out last year, and we had a very good year, and Dr. Slade was extremely instrumental in not only helping us through the immediate transition into his interim position but also those goals. Really he didn’t miss a beat.”
While ordinarily Berry administrators would do a national search for filing an administrative position, with the provost position, they hired from within, appointing the interim provost to the job. This has happened before, but is less common than the a national search.
“We were working on a lot of big changes and projects while also trying to fill several large administrative roles,” Briggs said. “It made sense to have someone fill the provost role who was familiar with Berry’s projects, goals and changes. We needed someone who would be ready to take all that on immediately. He had already proved to be prepared for the job while being interim, so hiring him made sense and we knew he would be able to do it.”
On Tuesday, in a faculty meeting, Slade outlined some goals and initiatives that would be set going forward, including national scholarship programs, expanded diversity and solidarity initiatives and community engagement.
“We want Berry to have its missional heart and hands for the community and within,” Slade said. “We want to be a community with a culture of belonging and a place where all students want to be and can thrive, then take what they’ve learned to the surrounding community and beyond.”
According to Calli O’Neal, office and logistics coordinator for Integrity in Leadership, International Experiences, and Student Diversity Initiatives, the Good Neighbor challenge will be revamped for this year, as well as solidarity week in September, and a new week in January called Be Love Week, which involves mobilizing Good Neighbor culture through service both on and off campus.
“We hope to give tools to the campus, students and faculty alike, so that they can serve each other and the community and learn ways to make Berry a place of love and solidarity,” O’Neal said at the faculty meeting. “We’ll have a class for inclusive leadership, to help people in leadership roles develop and form diverse teams. All of our class opportunities will enable individuals to have the language and tools to promote diversity.”
Briggs expressed confidence that Slade has what it takes to continue on as provost in a non-interim capacity. According to Briggs, Slade has the administrative experience to do well in the position, but also his experience as a professor will allow him to be in the heart of Berry with the students.
“Sometimes it can be hard for someone to be in admin and also teaching,” Briggs said. “It’s hard to give all your energy and attention to your students and all your energy to a project. But [Slade] has shown he can do that. He gets to see firsthand into the students’ lives and really has a chance to bond with them that it can be hard to do in an administrative role.”
Slade was optimistic that the coming year will be full of progress and improvement, especially after his year as interim and the teams he gets to work alongside.
“I am very grateful for the position and for the talented individuals I will get to work with,” Slade said. “I think that this will be an amazing year and I am glad to be a part of the goals ahead.”