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| Peacock named
interim provost for 2003-04 year |
By Leslie
Rasimas
Staff Writer |
Dr.
Kenneth E. Peacock will take the position of interim provost
for the 2003-04 year effective July 1.
After a national search yielding 69 applicants and four finalists
for Appalachian State University’s provost, the search
committee was unsatisfied with its choices. Peacock served
on the search committee.
“The people that we found are good, they’re certainly
qualified, but [they] just didn’t seem to be the right
fit for Appalachian,” Peacock said.
The search then continued within the school to find a temporary
provost now that Dr. Harvey Durham will take over as interim
chancellor after Dr. Francis T. Borkowski retires on June
30.
The search for a new provost will be put on hold until a new
chancellor is found.
Peacock has been at Appalachian since 1983 and has served
as dean of the College of Business since 1992. His position
as senior dean encouraged the school to ask him to be interim
provost.
“We went through the process, didn’t find the right
person, I’m a substitute,” he said.
Peacock has mixed feelings about his new job but a positive
attitude.
“I am excited, a little apprehensive, but I’m also
determined,” he said. “[I feel] a little bit apprehensive
because I do want to do a good job. The faculty, the staff
and the students here deserve someone who will be open, a
person of integrity, and a person who will listen.”
Peacock stresses the importance of communication with the
faculty and students.
“What I want to accomplish is to make sure I have processes
here that I can hear what the faculty want and I can actually
accomplish what they wish to have done,” he said. “I
work for them. They don’t work for me.”
Peacock is active with his dean’s council of student
advisors and the clubs in the College of Business. He wants
to increase the number of international students on campus
and work with the office of international studies and the
Diversity office.
“I want to continue to find ways to enhance our diversity
on campus,” Peacock said.
After his one-year appointment, Peacock plans to return to
his job as dean.
“This is a great opportunity for me,” he said. “This
is a one-year appointment and I can go and see the university
from a broader perspective and learn the operations of the
university at a higher level than where I am.” |
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