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Deans, Provosts and Presidents – University Terminology 101
We can get into the history of how they name administrators at Universities… but we don’t feel like doing that Google search. Instead, we are going to explain it as we would if we were sitting down and talking about it over coffee. This way, you can better understand who the Deans, Provosts, and Presidents are and what they do.
The Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees is a board that consists of multiple members selected by the Governor of the State of Ohio to manage the university. In our case, we have 11 board members, 2 of which are current students. The main board members serve 9-year terms and maintain the policies of the university. They meet multiple times a year and are the group that selects the President of the university.
The President
No, not that president, this president is the main person in charge of the university. They’re the one at the top of the food chain and responsible for being the final decision maker when it comes to most things involved on campus. The President answers to the board of trustees.
The Provost
Similar to the president at a University, the provost is at the top of the academic food chain. They are responsible for making the final decision on all academic changes within the university. This means if there is a new degree, a new faculty member, or anything that deals with your academics, the provost is the last signature needed for approval. All the deans and faculty members on campus report up to the Provost. In most universities, there is only one provost.
The Deans
When you were in high school, you had a principal and a superintendent. We like to think that the deans at universities are similar, in a very round-a-bout way. When you applied and were accepted into the University, you were assigned to a college – no not Youngstown State University, a college, which is a subset of the University that is made up of relevant majors. Deans are at the top of each college. The faculty within that college report up to the dean. Dean’s are a wonderful resource when it comes to helping you along in your college career. At Youngstown State, our deans are very accessible to our students.
Chairs
You might want to sit down for this one… pun very much intended. College is probably the only instance where you will use the term ‘chair’ to describe something you sit on and someone that is in charge of a department. Not to confuse you any more on university terminology than you might already be, but within each college there are departments. So if you are an engineering student you attend Youngstown State University, in the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, a part of the Rayen School of Engineering, in the Department of Engineering. That department part is where a chair comes into play because all the engineering faculty report up to the chair, who reports to the dean, who reports to the provost, who reports to the president, who reports the board of trustees. Simple, right?
Faculty
This is an easy one, your faculty are the ones you will engage with the most on campus. They teach your courses everyday and are your most valuable resource as a student. We don’t mean to brag, but our faculty are extremely accessible to our students. Get to know them on a first-name basis and use them as a resource to help facilitate your career.
Bursar
Honestly, I thought this was a foot condition, but it turns out that the bursar at a university is pretty important to a student as they are the ones that are in charge of all the financials. If you need to pay a school bill, you do that through the bursar’s office.
