Formerly dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota, Becker is eager to launch USC’s initiatives to hire 250 new faculty members and gear up for replacing hundreds of faculty expected to retire during the next two years. He outlined those plans and others in the following question-and-answer session with TIMES.

Q. One of the first major initiatives with which you’ll be involved is the two-pronged plan to recruit new faculty. How will that process look?
A. The Faculty Excellence Initiative (FEI) will bring in about 150 new tenure-track faculty members during the next few years, and the Office of Research’s Centenary Plan (CP) will recruit another 100. The FEI will help us to improve the student experience by promoting smaller class sizes and increasing the number of research opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students. Both plans will support the research priorities that have already been established and increase the University’s sponsored research portfolio. We can and must improve teaching and research in tandem.

Q. Any out-of-the-ordinary ideas on how some of the faculty hiring might be accomplished?
A. Given the large number of positions that we are looking at over the next, say, five years, including both new positions and replacement hires, we should expect to use a variety of approaches to faculty hiring. For example, cluster hiring is a particularly effective model for developing faculty strength in some of the new and emerging areas where there are not clear disciplinary boundaries. In addition, we will encourage proposals for targeted recruitments of groups or teams of investigators who perhaps already work together or who would like to work together in a particular area and who would make an immediate impact. We also will be looking for proposals to establish or elevate programs that would be of national prominence with a strategic investment. Of course, the faculty will drive the ideas for specific areas; they are uniquely positioned to see where the opportunities are and what could be possible.

Q. The merger of the colleges of Liberal Arts and Science and Mathematics is another big item on your plate. What’s the next step?
A. All four of the dean finalists have been scheduled for on-campus interviews this month. We hope to announce the new dean this fall, and we’ll be in close communication with that person to help facilitate the integration of the two colleges.

Q. How are you going about getting oriented to campus and meeting the faculty?
A. I’m attending and participating in as many events as my calendar will permit. This includes athletic and cultural events, as well as attending myriad meetings with committees and faculties that characterize the position of provost. I’ve also been walking across campus during the noon hour and trying out different eateries, particularly on the fringe of campus.

Q. What were the key things that attracted you to USC?
A. We have an incredible confluence of opportunities here of which many universities will be envious: the Health Sciences South Carolina collaborative with Palmetto Health, MUSC, and Greenville Hospital System; the Endowed Chairs Program; education and research programs that are growing in national prominence; and the FEI and CP faculty recruitment plans that we talked about earlier.

Q. How do you plan to replace the associate provost positions that are vacant?
A. I’m quickly getting a feel for the normal flow of work and the USC culture. We might change the way some of these titles and responsibilities look, but I will have the positions identified and filled this semester. In the meantime, we have an extremely capable staff in place, so it’s not like things aren’t getting done.

Q. Tell a little about your family.
A. My wife, Laura Voisinet, has master’s degrees in mathematics and statistics. She has had several careers and will probably reinvent herself here, as well. We have a daughter who’s a high school freshman here in Columbia and a son who is completing his senior year of high school in Minnesota. He’ll be joining us in June and plans to attend college in the South.

Q. What is the key message you’d like to share with the University faculty?
A. My goal is to have an institution that is academically and intellectually exciting, where the interactions with students are driven by a passion for the field and the desire to tackle the big questions facing humankind, where the energy gained from students and societal challenges stimulates and fuels research. We have a unique and incredible opportunity to advance knowledge and push the frontiers of each of our disciplines, as well as to create new frontiers by blurring the lines between disciplines to pursue previously unrecognized lines of research and education. I want the excitement that characterizes the modern research university to permeate every nook and cranny of USC.

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