Douglas Wartzok, who officially became provost of Florida International University, has actually been sitting in the university’s number two spot for nearly a year.
He agreed to come on as interim provost after Ronald Berkman stepped down from the position as has since been working closely with new President Mark Rosenberg to both manage the university in an era of ever-constricting funding and to develop a five-year plan they hope will be a key to FIU’s success in the coming years.
But one of the biggest challenges of his first year was the once-in-a-decade reaccreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
And with that now in the rearview, full focus has been turned to planning the university’s future.
“The key to our strategic plan, a document the president put together that he actually used during his interview for the position [that] he called that ‘Hit The Ground Running’ and has four points to it,” Mr. Wartzok said. “One was a financial based one, one was the partnerships with the community, one was more student centeredness and the last one was to enhance research and creative activity.
“We have seven committees that are working on it and they all have representation of faculty, students, staff, alumni, members of our board and trustees, and community members,” he added.
Once that plan is finished and adopted by the board of trustees, the university will then look to begin implementing its recommendations.
Dr. Wartzok discussed his tactics for serving as the university’s chief academic officer and plans for broadening FIU’s international in his offices on the university’s main campus with Miami Today staff writer Zachary S. Fagenson.