Dr. David Hilmey, the provost and vice president for Academic Affairs
Photo Courtesy of St. Bonaventure’s office of communications
BY: DAVID SCIBILIA, NEWS EDITOR
“Third time’s the charm,” David Hilmey, St. Bonaventure University’s newest provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, said.
Formerly Bonaventure’s dean of Arts and Sciences, Hilmey had served as interim provost twice — once in the 2021-2022 academic year and the other in the 2023 summer semester — before applying for and getting the full position.
The provost and vice president for Academic Affairs works closely with University President Jeff Gingerich.
“As Vice President for Academic Affairs, [he or she is] our chief academic officer — [someone] who helps to ensure that the academic quality is strong, and that we offer all the classes we need to offer,” Gingerich said. “As provost, [he or she is] also responsible for helping me to ensure that all elements of the university are working together.”
Following the spring 2023 semester, Joseph Zimmer, the university’s former provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, left to take on the same role at Robert Morris University. Zimmer’s departure led to the creation of Bonaventure’s Provost Search Committee, an advisory committee to Gingerich.
The committee was co-chaired by Leigh Simone, the chair of the department of world languages and cultural studies, and Ann Lehman, the associate vice president for grants and research chief of staff. It also consisted of Fr. Dan Horan O.F.M., board of trustees secretary; six faculty members; three administrators; Aaron Chimbel, dean of the Jandoli School of Communication; and Connor Raine, student government’s president.
“We had over 65 people to look at between both searches combined,” Simone said. “Everybody in the committee was responsible for reviewing all applications. Then we met in committee and decided who was going to go forward to a Zoom process, and from those Zoom calls, we narrowed it down to who we wanted to invite to campus as finalists.”
This committee worked alongside Hyatt-Fennell Executive Search, a firm that connects candidates with job opportunities in higher education.
“We did the legwork,” Simone said. “We did the selection, but we were not in any capacity to tell [Gingerich] who the person for the job was.”
The initial search did not yield a successful hire.
“The first search was successfully completed by the committee, but there wasn’t a successful hire,” Simone said.
The first search ended after three external candidates — Lori Quigley, Alfred Mueller and Leamor Kahanov — were brought to campus to conduct open sessions with both staff and the greater campus community but ultimately did not fill the position.
“We brought three finalists to campus and sometimes that works well, and sometimes that doesn’t,” Gingerich said. “We got to the point where we realized we wanted to keep going because the fit was so important. [The candidates] weren’t feeling the fit, and we weren’t feeling the fit.”
However, at least one candidate was offered the position.
“I was excited to come work at St. Bonaventure, and I felt a great fit with President Gingerich,” Kahanov said. “But my husband, who is an athletic trainer, could not find a job within an hour and a half of the university. The hospitality and communication were great, but because of our position, I couldn’t accept the job.”
After the decision to continue the search throughout the summer, Hilmey was appointed as the interim provost — a position he had held before in the 2021-2022 academic year after the death of then University President, Dennis DePerro.
“The President asked if I would be willing to take the position, having done [the job of the provost] before, to keep things moving over the summer while they did the second half of the search,” Hilmey said. “That’s when I decided to apply. I became a candidate during the process while I was also serving in that interim role.”
Hilmey did not apply for the first round of the search, noting his previous time in the role.
“Serving in that acting role for [the 2021-2022 academic year] was a really, really tough role for a variety of reasons,” Hilmey said. “One is we just came off the death of a beloved president, [and] there was a lot of work that we had to do for COVID as well. It was a significant investment of time and energy, which I was okay with, but it was a very difficult time for the institution.”
But after stepping back, Hilmey decided to apply for the second part of the search.
“During that spring semester, I got to know Dr. Gingerich a little bit better,” Hilmey said. “I got a sense of his vision and the way he operates, and I felt like I could work for him in a very positive way.”
Hilmey also discussed his family playing a role in his decision to apply.
“I did not want to take away anything from my family and the life that I have outside of the institution,” Hilmey said. “But I felt like I would be able to achieve a balance between it all.”
The second search yielded two finalists: the now-Provost David Hilmey and an external candidate, Sibdas Ghosh.
“It was nice to be able to weigh out if we wanted an internal or external person [for the position],” Gingerich said. “It became very clear that Dr. Hilmey had the strengths we were looking for and was the right fit for us.”
Lehman had a similar view to Gingerich.
“An external hire brings new ideas, things that we haven’t tried here before, while an internal candidate already has a lot of the relationships they need developed to succeed,” Lehman said.
Hilmey’s actions as both the dean of Arts and Sciences and as interim provost helped separate him from other candidates.
“Leadership was really important,” Lehman said. “He’s gone from department chair and Honors Program director to dean to interim provost twice. He was able to build really good relationships with cabinet members and other deans.”
During the past academic year, Hilmey served as co-chair of a committee on student retention rates.
“The provost is often asked to take on university initiatives,” Gingerich said. “Him being able to lead that successfully was a very positive factor for him.”
Despite his experience, Hilmey said he doesn’t see the position as an easy task.
“There are so many things that make [the job] challenging,” Hilmey said. “But I am excited. I’m ready to take on the challenge.”
scibild22@bonaventure.edu
