Iowa State University's next provost, Jason Keith, talks research, community engagement
Iowa State University's next provost "can't wait" for his new position.
Jason Keith was named the school's next senior vice president and provost on Tuesday, May 21.
Keith will succeed Jonathan Wickert, who announced his resignation in January. The hire is dependent on approval from the Iowa Board of Regents.
Keith has spent the last 10 years as dean of the James Worth Bagley College of Engineering at Mississippi State University. He was previously director of Mississippi State's Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering and led the MSU Energy Institute.
More: Iowa State University selects Mississippi State's Jason Keith as next provost
Noting similarities
ISU's newest provost sees several similarities with the Ames campus and Mississippi State ? a land-grant university with a high level of community engagement.
"When I saw the job description and read through the position profile, it looked like they were writing a job description for something I'd been doing for the last 20 years," Keith said. "I was very interested in that opportunity."
Keith was ultimately selected from a pool of four candidates.
He sees Iowa State as a "very innovative institution" in terms of scholarship, engagement and outreach.
Keith will begin his Ames tenure on Aug. 1. As provost, he will oversee seven academic colleges as well as the ISU graduate college, Parks Library, enrollment management, the Office of the Vice President for Research, and the Office of the Vice President for Extension and Outreach.
"Being part of a university that has such a wide range of majors in undergraduate and graduate level, and opportunities for hiring outstanding faculty who are leaders in their field is something very appealing to me," Keith said.
More: Iowa State University selects Mississippi State's Jason Keith as next provost
New provost doesn't plan on immediate changes
Keith visited the Iowa State campus and interviewed for the position in April.
Because he's "only had a glimpse" of what's happening across the university, Keith doesn't plan to make any immediate changes.
The vice president hopes to immerse himself in the community to better understand the university's specific strengths. He will also chat with the faculty, staff and administration to learn what they think Iowa State's areas of pride are and where they see potential for growth.
"Until I get that opportunity to really understand the pulse of the university, I don't want to come in and immediately start making changes," Keith said. "That's not the leadership style I have. I try to bring in feedback."
More: Iowa State University will start interviewing provost candidates next week on campus
Bringing past experience to Iowa State
Keith has been the dean of Mississippi State's engineering college since 2015, where he also serves as professor and Earnest W. and Mary Ann Deavenport, Jr. Chair.
He's helped Mississippi State progress through new degrees like petroleum engineering and biomedical engineering, while the school has also added degrees in artificial intelligence and cyber security.
Keith said Mississippi State works hard to support student success, much like Iowa State.
"We have a great reputation, as does Iowa State, to bring in students that have a great ability to be successful, teach them the tools they need to be successful," Keith said. "But then we also give them opportunities to do experiential learning through laboratories, cooperative education, internships, senior or capstone design projects for those students to be solving real world problems."
Iowa State's Student Innovation Center is a resource Keith believes the school can lean on for transcendent ideas.
More: Iowa State University provost Jonathan Wickert will step back after 12 years
Securing funding for research
Last year, Mississippi State's engineering college helped secure an all-time high of $300 million in research expenditures. The college also helped support its students by generating a record $43 million in external gifts and grants from alumni and companies.
Keith hopes to use his experience to obtain more research and scholarship opportunities in Ames.
"I want to develop strategies for multi-disciplinary research objectives at Iowa State that can really cement as a leader nationally and internationally," Keith said.
Celia Brocker is a government, crime, political and education reporter for the Ames Tribune. She can be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Who is Iowa State University's next provost?
