SIU Carbondale's new acting Chancellor says he has a list of priorities he plans to start work on immediately. The SIU Board appointed Paul Sarvela to the post Tuesday.
Sarvela comes to the post from the SIU President's office where he has served as Vice President for Academic Affairs since 2008. He's held several posts during his 28-year tenure on campus. Sarvela says one of his priorities will be to review a number of campus policies including research. He says research is closely linked to the education the university provides students.
“We are going to be looking at how we conduct research and the polices that have been developed related to research, and are there ways we can help faculty,” he said.
Sarvela’s work will begin with a series of meetings with the university’s deans. He says recruitment and retention are also top priorities.
Sarvela’s appointment is open ended. SIU President Randy Dunn says he'd be surprised if it doesn't run for at least one year.
“If we’re making some progress and addressing a variety of issues and reviewing some things it well could be the case that it would extend out even a bit beyond that,” Dunn said.
Sarvela is a former Dean of SIU Carbondale's College of Applied Science and Arts. He replaces outgoing chancellor Rita Cheng, who was recently named president of Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.
