Dr. Karl R. Kunkel, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Pittsburg State University, was named as Southeast Missouri State University's next provost on Nov. 18.
Kunkel will begin his duties at Southeast on Feb. 15 at a salary of $190,000. He will replace Dr. Gerald McDougall, who has been interim provost this semester after Dr. Bill Eddleman stepped down from the position in May. McDougall will return to his previous position as associate provost for extended learning and the dean of the Harrison College of Business when Kunkel officially takes the provost position.
The provost serves as the chief academic officer and is responsible for the eight colleges and schools at Southeast. According to the Southeast 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.
Kunkel has been Pittsburg State's dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, as well as a professor of sociology and justice studies, since 2011. Pittsburg State is located in Pittsburg, Kansas, which is 30 miles northwest of Joplin, Missouri. He previously worked at Missouri State University for 17 years, where he had been the head of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology.
"I've been a full-time college professor since 1999, that's the year that I got my doctorate from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Before that I'd been a graduate student teacher, probably since 1984," Kunkel said. "The reason I got involved with this field is because I wanted to be a professor. I was a sociology and criminal justice professor, and it was really my goal to teach and share my enthusiasm for those fields with students."
Kunkel said he started to get into administrative work when he was at Missouri State University, which was called Southwest Missouri State University at the time. He was tasked to be the coordinator of the criminology curriculum.
"I think what happens in life is that the reward for good work is often more work," Kunkel said. "So I eventually became a department head in 2003 and started developing different types of administrative skills. After about eight years of that, I had the opportunity to move to Pittsburg State in Kansas to be the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, which would be the next step up. So I was able to oversee departments in art, music, theatre, all the humanities, the social sciences, the natural sciences and we actually had the school of nursing in the College of Arts and Sciences. So I developed a much wider breadth of experiences in budgeting, planning and coordinating."
Kunkel was one of 110 candidates who applied for the position in August, and the search committee had been narrowing down the candidates throughout the semester. The top five candidates were invited to campus in October.
Kunkel said that in filling a provost position it is most important to find a good fit. He added that Southeast was a great fit for him due to the institution's emphasis on student learning and because he is from St. Louis and has spent most of his life in Missouri. He said another factor was his admiration of the role of a regional institution in providing education to that area.
"Some people go to the Ivy League schools, some go to the flagship universities, but a lot of the people from particularly rural areas go to regional comprehensives," Kunkel said. "So we are in the business of creating the future and transforming people's lives -- giving them opportunities and exposing them to perspectives that they wouldn't have otherwise had coming from small towns."
Kunkel added that when he visited Southeast, he was impressed with the people he was able to meet, as well as the look of the campus, having a mix of traditional and modern buildings, and the town of Cape Girardeau.
Kunkel said his first step when taking the provost position at Southeast will be to learn about the university and get to know those at the university.
"I think it is very important to talk to people and get a sense of the units," Kunkel said. "Get a sense of the strengths and the history of the institution, what people value at the institution. I want to try to get out there and talk to as many people and as many groups as I possibly can. Groups of faculty, groups of staff, groups of administrators and particularly groups of students to get a sense of where people are at at the university."
Kunkel said he doesn't know how long that process will take, but said that when he first was at Pittsburg State, he spent the first four months learning the different acronyms and terminology at the institution. Over time, Kunkel said he may have suggestions or ideas on how to improve student learning at Southeast.
"Sometimes it is advantageous to have a provost that has been at the university for a long time because they know the ins and outs, the people and the processes, but other times I think it is beneficial to have somebody come in from the outside to provide different perspectives," Kunkel said. "I think a healthy organization has a balance of the two, and I can certainly bring that to Southeast."
