Presidential adviser Cole to assume interim provost duties

Contact: Joe Farris

A senior adviser to the president of Mississippi State will serve as the university's interim provost and vice president for academic affairs during 1998-99 or until a permanent provost is named.

David Cole is a former associate academic vice president and physics department chair at the University of Alabama. He has been a special assistant to Malcolm Portera since Portera took office at the beginning of the year. Cole's interim appointment is effective July 1.

The search for a permanent provost and vice president for academic affairs is expected to continue during the coming academic year, said search committee chair Leslie Bauman. The committee and Portera agreed earlier this month to extend the search after three candidates had been interviewed this spring.

"I have known David Cole for 25 years and I have the highest respect for his administrative abilities and his understanding of the primary role of academic affairs in the university," Portera said in announcing the appointment. "We are fortunate to have available someone of his depth and breadth of experience to step into this critical leadership role on a temporary basis."

Cole retired from the University of Alabama in 1990 after 10 years as associate academic vice president. He also had been a faculty member in the physics and astronomy department since 1962, serving as department chairman for more than a dozen years during that time.

During the past six months, Cole has advised the president and other administrators on budget planning, priorities in teaching and research, the library's quest for Association of Research Libraries status, and funding for the Engineering Research Center, among other issues.

"I will work with the deans and others to provide the faculty with the best possible working conditions for teaching and research," Cole said. "I will assist the president in implementing the priorities he has outlined for the university. I'm going to work every way I can to help him."

Cole said he brings a faculty member's perspective to the top academic job. "As an administrator, I'm here to serve the faculty," he said. "And the faculty is here to serve the students.

"I believe in good teaching and good research. Making things better for students--giving them the best opportunities we can to interact with faculty in the classroom and in the laboratory--that's the reason we are here," he said.

At Alabama, Cole had major responsibilities for international programs, academic and administrative computing, the university press and information technology research and development, among other areas.

He has been active in the Southern Technology Council, Southeastern Universities Research Association and Southern Center for International Studies.

Cole received a bachelor's degree in chemistry at Northwestern State University of Louisiana, a master's in mathematics education at George Peabody College and a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Alabama. He served in the Army Air Corps in China, Burma and India during World War II.

He and his wife have three children and make their permanent home in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Cole will temporarily succeed Derek Hodgson, who is resigning after four years as provost and vice president for academic affairs to accept a similar position at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.