Southeast Missouri State University Provost Dr. Bill Eddleman announced Wednesday, April 8, that he will step down from his position as provost on June 1. Eddleman plans to return as a faculty member for the fall semester and officially retire from the university on Jan. 1.

Dr. Gerald McDougall, associate provost for Extended Learning and the dean of the Harrison College of Business, will serve as the interim provost starting June 1. McDougall also served as interim provost in 2013 and will not be a candidate for the permanent position.

Eddleman said he was stepping down from the position for many reasons, including to take care of his parents and to spend time with his grandson, who will be born in a few weeks.

"There are just a lot of other things I want to do other than academia and even biology, and to get out and do some stuff I've been putting off for way too long," Eddleman said.

Eddleman said that after he retires he would like to travel more as well as become a professional genealogist and do paid genealogical research. He also said it was a good time to step down as provost, so it coincides with President Kenneth W. Dobbins' retirement in June.

"A lot of times a new president wants to be able to select their own provost, so it's an opportune time to do that, and rather than just retiring cold turkey out of provost, I thought going back to the biology department for a semester would be a little bit of a chance to decompress and get a little bit more ready for retirement," Eddleman said.

Although plans have not been finalized for Eddleman's role as a faculty member next semester, he said he will probably teach a wildlife ecology course, and that there has been talk of him "team teaching" a course with a new professor coming in this fall.

Eddleman has worked at Southeast since 1995, when he was an assistant professor of biology. He became a professor of biology in July 2001 and became the chair of the department in August 2003.

Eddleman served as vice provost and dean of the School of Graduate Studies, starting in June 2011, and became the provost of the university in January 2013.

"It's been an interesting ride here, with all the things I've been able to do here," Eddleman said.

Eddleman mentioned he was proud of what he was able to do as provost, including his work with online courses, hiring new department chairs, helping create new academic programs in the healthcare field and currently planning a faculty research showcase so the faculty as a whole can learn what other professors are working on.

"I never thought I'd be here, this office. I thought I'd go all the way through as a faculty member and not as a faculty chair, vice provost and then provost," Eddleman said. "So that's been rather interesting. Of course, this is my hometown, so I never thought I'd get back here to do that because it's kind of unusual to come back to where you were born to do university teaching."

The provost serves as the chief academic officer and is responsible for the eight colleges and schools at Southeast. According to Southeast's faculty handbook, the qualifications for the job include a doctorate degree from an accredited university and scholarly or research achievements, as well as teaching and administrative experience at the college or university level.

A provost search committee will be formed including one faculty member from each college including Kent Library and the School of Polytechnic Studies, one student member selected by Student Government Association and two members selected by the president.

"It's extremely important that we get a really good representation of all of the different units that work beneath him, and that's why we have these procedures in place to assure that," Dr. Diane Woods, faculty senate chair, said. "And it's really important because, for example, with the colleges, each of the colleges will actually do their own election, so they will each elect a representative."

A first round survey will allow faculty members to opt-out of running for one of the search committee positions. Then each college will be able to vote from the remaining candidates. If there isn't a majority winner, another survey with the top two candidates will determine the spot.

Woods expects that this process will occur in the next few weeks, but also mentioned that once the committee is formed, their first task will be to develop a job announcement to allow candidates from both within and outside the university to apply.

According to Woods, candidates for the position will be interviewed over the phone in the fall, and then the finalists will be invited to visit campus over two days.

"That's going to allow the entire campus to be able to meet with them in an open forum, so there will be input that comes in from all areas," Woods said.

The president, who will be Dr. Carlos Vargas-Aburto starting July 1, will recommend a final candidate to the Board of Regents for confirmation. A new provost is expected to be named by Jan. 1.