Greg Blase, associate director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, is participating in an experimental training program designed to introduce Kent State faculty to administrative positions.

The Provost’s Fellowship was created not only to give interested faculty a taste of working in administration, but also to help bridge the gap between members of the university and the administration.

The program just started this fall, and is still in its trial stages said Dr. Timothy Chandler, senior associate provost. He said he thinks it’s good because both parties know it’s a learning process that benefits both parties.

“We think it’s a very important process for the provost office, and also to prepare future administration,” Chandler said. “It gives them a chance to see if this is something they want to do.”

Carey McDougall, an art professor from Kent State Stark, was the fall Fellow and fresh to the world of administration. The Fellow serves part time for one semester while remaining strongly involved in his or her home college.

From eight candidates, they chose Blase, who had already been in administration for four years at JMC.

“I was actually kind of surprised that they chose me,” Blase said. “I thought they were looking for people that didn’t have any administrative experience.”

Being exposed to a new level of the university has allowed Blase to learn a lot in a small amount of time. He said he has no problem being in the testing stages.

“I don’t mind a bit because I’ve been here 25 years, and I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned in the past few weeks,” Blase said.

As the Provost’s Fellow, Blase has spent a lot of time in meetings. Some have been committee meetings and others one-on-one meetings with administrators to find out what they do.

He may be sitting in on a lot of meetings, but Blase is most excited about a project he is going to be working on for the fellowship this semester that involves dual credit and post secondary education.

“I’d like to just make a difference in the project I am working on,” Blase said. “ I want to be able to say here is a plan of how to do this or even if I have time, to implement it.”

Contact CCI campus media reporter Rabab Al-Sharif at [email protected].