photo by: Richard Gwin

Larry Singell, executive dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington, addresses a crowd Thursday, April 21, 2016, at Alderson Auditorium at the Kansas Union. He is the second of three candidates for Kansas University provost and executive vice chancellor.

The second candidate for Kansas University provost likened the position to that of a coach, particularly as described in the sports adage, “players win games, coaches lose them.”

In his public presentation Thursday at the Kansas Union, candidate Larry Singell, executive dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington, stressed the importance of having a well-articulated mission, hiring talent, trusting them to execute the mission and, sometimes, being able to change directions if things aren’t working.

“The coach can never make the game-winning shot,” he said. But provosts, like coaches, “they’re the ones that create the conditions for success.”

Singell is the second of three candidates for provost and executive vice chancellor to address the KU community this month.

The first, KU School of Business Dean Neeli Bendapudi, gave a presentation last week. The third, who KU says will be publicly named Friday, is scheduled to present from 4 to 5 p.m. Monday in the Summerfield Room of Adams Alumni Center.

The provost search committee asked each to address the question: How can a provost foster an intellectually vibrant campus and advance the educational and research quality of the university?

Signell has served in his current role at Indiana since 2012, following one year as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences there, according to his resume. From 2008 to 2011 he was associate dean for social sciences at the University of Oregon, where he previously was professor and head of the economics department.

He received his doctorate and master’s degree from the University of California-Santa Barbara and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado, all in economics. His fields of specialization are labor economics and the economics of higher education.

In his presentation Singell said the provost, a university’s chief academic officer, must believe in and be able to “enthusiastically communicate” the institution’s mission internally and externally.

A provost must be able to understand relevant data and use it to construct a picture of the future, he said, including “relentlessly” hiring talented faculty and enabling them to execute plans.

At Indiana, he said the College of Arts and Sciences he led had a firm tradition of only hiring and promoting from within. He said he brought in new people from outside the college and the university, who brought valuable perspectives.

He said he also tried to give departments power to make decisions, such as giving them access to discretionary funds for their own initiatives.

In universities — which Singell called “marvelous” places filled with smart, motivated people — a provost should bring people and ideas together to address challenges.

“It’s not a problem,” he said. “It’s a puzzle we’re going to have to solve.”

Singell also took questions from the audience, which numbered roughly 130, mostly KU staffers and faculty members.

One was to identify a challenge he’d observed in his visit to KU and how he would address it.

Singell said, as much as people in academia want to prioritize wisdom, “money matters.”

Declining state budgets, sometimes accompanied with increased state control in other areas, is a problem not unique to KU, he said. He said one goal would be to talk to lawmakers, articulate the value of education, learn what they care about and try to find priorities that align with the university’s mission.

Regarding minority recruitment and retention, Singell cited a few efforts he’d made at Indiana, including funding minority faculty hires in certain disciplines, which in turn attracted more minority students.

KU’s provost and executive vice chancellor is second in command for KU’s Lawrence campus but does not oversee KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan.

The new hire will replace Jeff Vitter, who left KU in December to become chancellor of the University of Mississippi. KU’s interim provost since Jan. 1 has been Sara Rosen, senior vice provost for academic affairs.