It’s a new semester at Colorado State University-Pueblo, and the search for the new provost, or Vice President for Academic Affairs, has started.

The provost is responsible for assuring the quality of student education. This is done by overseeing the curriculum and leading new proposals in education.

Dr. Rick Kreminski, the Interim Provost of CSU-Pueblo, has served as the Dean of the College of Science and Mathematics,  at CSU-Pueblo, since August 2009. In December 2011, Kreminski stepped in as interim provost.

It is the provost’s job to insure that a student’s experience at CSU-Pueblo meet and even exceed expectations. This position is responsible for all academic degrees and non-degree programs on campus and is the direct supervisor for all deans.

The provost is the person who is in charge of all the programs  directly affects a student’s academic career.

The search for the new provost is a six-step process. Out of these six-steps, the search committee is currently in the fourth step.  This step is the evaluation stage the last step before a candidate is selected as provost.

The search committee conducted the first review session on Jan. 22. During the review session, the search committee reviewed leading candidates.

Since then, the search committee has narrowed the selection to 14 candidates. Those candidates will then be interviewed on Skype in late February, chair of the search committee, Carol Foust said.

The committee will vote to determine the top group of candidates from the Skype interviews, and then the search committee will select candidates for additional interviews.

By March, three or four candidates will be selected for the final step of the search process. This step will include an interview that will take place on campus.

The committee will then give their feedback to CSU-Pueblo President Lesley Di Mare, and she will appoint the selected candidate to be the new provost.

More than a dozen qualified candidates had applied, and only a few will make it to the final review round.

“We have a strong candidate pool with applicants from all across the nation,” Foust said.

To be considered for the selection process the candidate must have a doctorate degree and previous academic experience including: university teaching, successful development of a student centered environment and success of student enrollment.

“Most of the candidates are currently in dean, vice provost or provost positions at other universities,” Foust said.

Every candidate is reviewed for their experience, background, training and how they would fit into CSU-Pueblo, Foust said.

All of the candidates have the requirements to become the new provost.

The rest of the search process for the CSU-Pueblo’s new provost will continue throughout the spring semester.