Former Saint Louis University Provost Joe Weixlmann is one of three finalists for the provost position at Loyola University in Chicago. Weixlmann said that he is not a candidate for vice president for the SLU Frost Campus position.

“I served longer in the position of provost than most people do, and I was able to do a lot of good things,” Weixlmann said. “It is time for them to bring in a fresh vision and a new perspective to the position.”

For the past seven years, Weixlmann served as provost until he stepped down in August for personal and professional reasons. He is currently teaching in the Department of English and researching ways to improve the quality of the Honors Program.

According to Weixlmann, Loyola contacted him about applying for the position in December and the head of the provost search committee further contacted him in February.

Weixlmann visited the Loyola campus on April 8-9, and after reviewing the University and talking with students, faculty and administrators, he said he is “enthusiastic for the Loyola job if it emerges.”

“I wasn’t interested at first, but they made a strong case for applying for the position,” Weixlmann said.

The provost at Loyola is the chief academic officer of the University, in charge of academic and curriculum affairs and research opportunities. The other two candidates for the position are Gail Baker, University of Nebraska at Omaha’s dean of the College of Communication, Fine Arts and Media, and John Pelissero, Loyola’s current interim-provost. The search committee will announce its selection in early May.

Michael Garanzini, S.J., president of Loyola and a former SLU administrator, is incorporating a new strategic plan that will emphasize tying together student affairs and academic affairs. Weixlmann said that he was drawn to this plan because that was one of his main focuses while at SLU.

“There are a lot of similarities between the two universities,” Weixlmann said. “It will be easy to transition my experiences into the job.”

If appointed, Weixlmann plans on combining students and academic affairs at Loyola through emphasizing learning communities for incoming students, diversity of the student body and increasing undergraduate research opportunities.