Utah State University Names Interim Provost
Dr. Larry Smith will serve as interim provost at Utah State University while a national search for the position is conducted.
Larry Smith, executive senior vice provost of Utah State University, will serve as interim provost while a national search for the executive vice president and provost is underway—a position held by Noelle Cockett before she was appointed president of USU on Oct. 26.
Smith will take over as interim provost when Cockett begins her term as the school’s 16th president in January. The search committee for the new executive VP and provost will be chaired by Joe Ward, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. The search committee will be formed in January. Beginning February, the new committee will seek campus input on the position announcement and qualifications. The search will be officially launched in March with on-campus interviews beginning in September.
“We will conduct a national search to look for the candidate who best matches our mission, our core principles and our long-term aspirations as a major research university and as Utah’s land-grant institution,” Cockett said. “We will make sure to commit the necessary time it takes, and I will be seeking input from across campus as we develop the position announcement and build the applicant pool.”
Smith said he is honored to serve in this new position while the university conducts its search for Cockett’s replacement.
“I will devote myself to keeping the academic enterprise at USU running strong and help the colleges, departments and faculty continue positive momentum, promote student success and assist President Cockett in moving her agenda forward,” Smith said. “I’m certain that USU will attract an outstanding individual and I want the office to be in the same excellent shape when the new executive vice president and provost arrives.”
Smith has been in central administrative roles since 2003, including interim dean of the School of Graduate Studies from 2004-2006, and has been in the Provost’s office since then.
“As the campus community well knows, Larry Smith has extensive experience as our executive senior vice provost, and he knows the on-campus community from top to bottom,” Cockett said. “I am completely confident in his exceptional abilities to fill this interim role, and I thank him for agreeing to serve in this capacity.”
Smith’s academic background is in physiology and cell science. After several years of postdoctoral work at medical schools and research institutes in the east, Smith began his faculty career at Idaho State University in 1989. While there, he led multiple efforts to improve the teaching and research environment in cell and molecular science and was the founding director of the Molecular Research Core Facility. During his 14 years at ISU, he took on a number of administrative roles and eventually chose to enter administration full time with his move to Utah State.
Prior to his new appointment, Smith served the USU provost directly with a broad set of responsibilities, including chair of the university Educational Policies Committee and a Utah State academic liaison with the State Commissioner’s Office of Higher Education. He has also worked as the institution’s search manager for executive positions, led the New Faculty Tenure Academy and Teaching Portfolio Workshops. He has also served as an expert resource on tenure and promotion process and policy.
Contact: Dr. Larry Smith, 435-797-0718
Writer: John DeVilbiss, 435-797-1358
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