Provost candidate shares importance of interdisciplinary learning in second open forum
Central Michigan University prospective provost Wayne Raskind takes questions during an open forum on April 24 in the Bovee University Center Auditorium.
Provost candidate Wayne Raskind visited Central Michigan University on April 24 for the second of three open forums in the ongoing provost search.
Raskind has worked at Wayne State University as the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences from 2012-18 and is currently the associate provost for special programs.
He discussed the bachelor of science in public health degree that he helped implement at Wayne State and how he thinks CMU would benefit from it as well.
“It’s a program you don’t have here and if I were to come here, I would try hard to set it up,” he said. “I think a lot of programs like that, which are going to attract students, do not fall squarely into one college and I think we need to work together as a university.”
Raskind mentioned the importance of the organization of colleges to make picking courses and degrees easier for students.
“The college, or the particular organization of the university, does not really concern students that much," Raskind said. "They want to have courses and a major and minor. It’s our job to make that possible without fighting with ourselves to draw students into respective colleges.”
Faculty asked Raskind how he plans to balance the importance of STEM and the liberal arts.
“As provost, how do you see the role of humanities in undergraduate education, especially at CMU, as we move forward in a world that right now the pendulum swings towards STEM?” said Kelly Murphy, philosophy and religion faculty.
Raskind said that a STEM or a liberal arts education are presented as separate choices, but he doesn’t think it should be an either/or situation. He plans to look at the availability to take minors, and ones that don’t have a direct correlational to a person's major.
The audience asked Raskind why he wants to be provost and what he would plan to accomplish at CMU.
“I have heard you say why you would like to be provost and have heard you mention the community,” said Christi Brookes, world languages and cultures faculty. “What are some other things that you would like to get to work on as the provost?”
Raskind said he would like to look at the growing programs and work with them to increase enrollment.
“I think in terms of what needs to be done immediately, I would get up to speed with what is being done with enrollment,” Raskind said. “I think a lot of my efforts would go in that direction.”
The first provost open forum was held April 22 with candidate Farshad Fotouhi. Provost candidate Mary Schutten will be at the final open forum from 2-3:30 p.m. on April 26 in the Charles V. Park Library’s Baber Room.
