Provost Dr. Joseph Zimmer
Photo courtesy of St. Bonaventure University
BY: CASSIDEY KAVATHAS, ADVISORY EDITOR
Dr. Joseph Zimmer, provost and vice president for academic affairs at St. Bonaventure University, will leave the university at the end of the semester. The former interim president has accepted a position at Robert Morris University as provost and vice president of academic affairs.
“I congratulate Joe on his new role, but more than anything, I want to thank him for what he’s meant to me in my first year as president and what he’s meant to this university for more than 30 years,” said SBU President Jeff Gingerich. “His contributions as a professor, dean and administrator simply can’t be measured.”
St. Bonaventure hopes to fill the position by the end of the semester, said Gingerich. The provost and vice president for academic affairs is the chief academic officer of the university and a chief adviser to the president. They are responsible for and supervise all instruction.
“The provost is a crucial position at the university. …” Gingerich said. “The provost helps to ensure that all of the different areas of the university are working together to ensure the best student experience possible and fulfill our Franciscan mission.”
Zimmer served as interim president after the death of president Dennis DePerro from 2021-2022. Previously, Zimmer served as provost and vice president for academic affairs since 2015 after serving as the dean of education from 2011-2015 and teaching in the school for 22 years.
“He brought a lot of stability to what we refer to as our executive administration. He served through five presidents,” said David Hilmey, dean of arts and sciences and former interim provost and vice president for academic affairs. “He has been a bit of a grounding for the university being such a long serving faculty member and administrator so it’s going to be tough to replace him just in terms of his institutional knowledge.”
During his time as provost, Bonaventure established the DePerro School of Health Professions and added 25 new majors and graduate programs. Zimmer will begin his position at Robert Morris on June 1. Bonaventure hopes to fill his position by the summer, though a search committee hasn’t been established yet.
“We will form a search committee and begin advertising for the position as soon as possible, trying to get the largest and most diverse pool of candidates possible,” said Gingerich. “After initial vetting by the search committee and myself, we will eventually invite candidates to campus. It is important at a place like Bona’s that we find the right fit and get lots of feedback.”
Robert Morris is facing similar problems to Bonaventure, said Zimmer.
“It’s a school that is about 1.5 times the size of St. Bonaventure, so this is a step up in my career to a larger institution. One of the attractions is that it has similar challenges as St. Bonaventure. It is a small Division I athletics school, and has similar enrollment challenges to St. Bonaventure,” Zimmer said.
With Zimmer leaving, the university faces a new president with a new provost within two years.
“The university is in a really good place. When you look [at] a little bit bigger picture from just the president and provost. … I think there’s a very experienced academic leadership team beyond the provost. And then also, when you look at the president’s council, more specifically, a lot of the VP folks have been at Bonaventure a few years and more,” said Aaron Chimbel, dean of the Jandoli School of Communication. “There’s a very strong infrastructure in place.”
This possibility allows Gingerich to figure out which direction Bonaventure should go in the future.
“If you hire someone internal you do continue that institutional knowledge and have continuity. You have an insider’s knowledge of what goes on and how to sometimes cut through red tape and how to talk to the faculty or the staff in a way that’s productive,” said Hilmey. “But bringing somebody in who might have different perspectives is actually a great way to bring in fresh air to bring in new ways of thinking and maybe some best practices at other institutions that we don’t do here. So each of them has an advantage.”
Chimbel and Hilmey hope the next provost builds on relationships with faculty, staff and students.
“It’s important in whoever the next provost is that they really take time to understand St. Bonaventure and what makes it unique, but also what makes each of the schools unique. As we all know, Bonaventure has a certain feel and a certain experience for students, that’s also true among the different schools is, while we’re all part of Bonaventure and have the same big picture values, we also have very different experiences for students or approaches to curriculums,” Chimbel said. “I would say a good leader listens and takes time to understand those they’re working with. … One of the best things a new person can do is to get out and go to the different places and go to the different schools and talk to not just the dean.”
Kavathcj20@bonaventure.edu
