After almost seven years of working as Provost, Michael Schneider has decided to step down from his position, effective June 30th. Melissa J. Glenn, a professor of psychology and associate provost at Colby College, will take over the position.
In the final months of his tenure as Provost, Schneider reflects on his accomplishments and struggles.
“My best year wasn’t necessarily the easiest year for the college, but in 2021, a lot of things happened,” Schneider said.
In the 2021 school year, Knox was in the process of hiring the current President of Knox College, Andrew McGadney, as well as facing challenges pertaining to Covid-19 policies.
Despite the changes in 2021, Knox applied for and received a 1.2 million dollar grant, three times larger than the biggest faculty development grant given before.
This led to the foundation of the abolition lab, an idea that Provost Schneider, along with 30 to 40 of his colleagues, previously worked towards for six months during the application for said grant.
“There was an idea of having a humanities lab where faculty could innovate new programs, students could come and participate in digital research projects, and we could do it in a way that would advance, really, who we are as an institution,” Schneider explained.
The Abolition Lab is one of Schneider’s proudest accomplishments as provost, along with many other tedious tasks that keep the college running. Schneider believes that along with improving academic resources for Knox, student experience is equally high on his list.
“The thing that has always fueled my interest in being at Knox […] being able to provide experiences for students that I didn’t have as a student,” Schneider said.
With this large interest in student experience, Schneider put personal involvement in creating the Japan term, a program that has taken over 100 students to Japan for ground-level immersion in a different culture.
Although he has moved positions since then, Schneider expresses that being provost allows him to help others with similar programs, apply for grant funding, and keep his excitement for student experience intact.
Prior to his seven years as Provost, Schneider worked in many positions with Knox, including chair of history, Asian studies, and international studies for eight years. He stepped up to be the chair of the journalism department in the last year and served as assistant dean to the college for four years.
In his absence, Schneider hopes the four-year cycle he started himself, continues.
“We need more opportunities to rotate, so that many more faculty can step into administration, then go back to faculty, just like me!” Schneider said.
As his last act as the provost, Schneider is implementing a new student information system, meant to help students register for classes in a more efficient way. The system is said to launch this summer and be in full effect starting fall term 2025.
