Valentine’s Day often brings happy surprises and Fort Hays State University President, Mirta Martin contributed this year announced the next FHSU Provost will be Graham Glynn effective June 1 late Sunday night through email to the entire FHSU faculty and staff.
“I would like to let you know that we have a new Provost. Dr. Graham Glynn has chosen to make FHSU his destination of choice,” Martin said in the announcement. “I am thrilled to welcome him to the Tiger family.”
Glynn is the current Vice Provost and Executive Dean for College-Wide Programs at Mercy College in New York City.
Both Martin’s announcement and the announcement from FHSU speak to Glynn’s background being a perfect fit for the direction Martin hopes to see FHSU take.
“Glynn, who has a doctorate in neuroscience, has extensive experience in technology and the delivery of education at a distance, which is a widely recognized strength of Fort Hays State and its Virtual College. At Mercy College, he helped restructure the educational assessment process to improve student success and retention. He is an entrepreneur who started and ran his own software business that developed and sold a personal knowledge management application in 27 countries. At Creighton University, he initiated the online school of pharmacy, which nearly doubled enrollment and was the first online school of pharmacy in the world. With his family, Glynn has hosted international students from Africa, Europe, Korea, Japan, China and South America,” the announcement said.
“Dr. Glynn earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience in 1990 from the N.E. Ohio Universities College of Medicine/Kent State University in Rootstown and a Bachelor of Science Degree in pharmacology and biochemistry in 1985 from the University College Dublin in Ireland. He also earned a Certificate in Business Administration in 2003 from Creighton University, a Certificate in Foundations of Effective Management in 2001 from Creighton and a Certificate in Multimedia and Internet Technology in 1996 from the University of Texas at Austin. He has published and lectured widely,” Martin said.
Martin also recognized the efforts of Chris Crawford, who has served as the interim provost since the stepping down of Lawrence Gould from the position last October.
“I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Chris Crawford, who has served as interim provost during the past year. He has served this institution with selfless dedication; I am thankful for his leadership,” Martin said.
In the announcement from FHSU Glynn embraced the unique position FHSU, with innovation being a keystone of the college.
“I am very excited and honored to be joining the Tiger family and want to thank President Martin, the search committee and the campus community for their faith in me,” Glynn said. “Fort Hays State is a very special institution with a can-do attitude that embraces innovation. I had the opportunity to walk through many of the campus buildings the day after my official interview and was very impressed by the level of engagement and energy I saw between the faculty, staff and students. I look forward to working with and getting to know everyone.”
While Martin seems excited by the choice, members of the search committee were also impressed with the candidates and Glynn.
“The Provost Search Committee was very pleased by the depth of the candidate pool. FHSU attracted strong candidates from across the nation who had a variety of strengths and experiences. We were impressed by the candidates who visited campus and had confidence President Martin would have a quality pool to select from. I am excited about Dr. Glynn. He impressed the committee as a visionary,” said Mark Bannister, dean of the college of Business and Entrepreneurship.
“In addition to Bannister, the members of the search committee are Dr. Paul Faber, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences; Deborah Ludwig, dean of Forsyth Library; Brenda Hoopingarner, chair of the Department of Allied Health; Dr. Michael Meade, associate professor of English; Dr. Eric Deyo, assistant professor of physics and president of the Faculty Senate; Linn Ann Huntington, professor of communication studies and president of the FHSU Chapter of the American Association of University Professors; Arin Powers, a Woodward, Okla., junior and president of the Student Government Association; Dr. Keegan Nichols, assistant vice president for student affairs; DeBra Prideaux, director of governmental relations and the FHSU Alumni Association; and Matt Means, assistant professor of music and theatre and director of the Honors College,” the announcement said.