MSU Provost Candidates On Campus Next Week

Murray State University has announced two finalists for the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs position. 

The finalists include Dr. Mark Anderson, dean of the College of Science and Mathematics at Kennesaw State University; and Dr. Robert Fischer, Jr., dean of the College of Basic and Applied Sciences at Middle Tennessee State University. 

Both candidates will visit the Murray campus next week to meet with Murray State University President Bob Davies, University deans and other leaders, faculty, staff and students. Each finalist will also participate in a public forum open to the entire University community. The finalists were selected by the search committee following a national search.

• Anderson has served as the dean of the College of Science and Mathematics at Kennesaw State University since July 2012. While at Kennesaw State he has initiated two new thesis-based graduate programs and a new Ph.D. degree program in Advanced Analytics and Data Science, led the College's strategic planning process and secured private support and grants totaling nearly $2.5 million. 

He has previously held positions at the University of Colorado–Denver and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He earned his Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his bachelor's degree in chemistry at Indiana University, Bloomington. 

Anderson will be on the Murray State University campus on Wednesday, Nov. 9.

• Fischer has served as the dean of the College of Basic and Applied Sciences at Middle Tennessee State University since 2012. While in this role, he has provided leadership for the College's experiential learning initiatives, reshaped the College's advisory board, stewarded the design and construction of the $147 million new science building and increased total private giving to the College by 67 percent. 

He has held positions at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Eastern Illinois University. He earned his Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of South Carolina, master's degree in environmental biology, physiological ecology from the State University College of Buffalo and his bachelor's degree in ecology from the State University College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, New York. 

Fischer will be on the Murray State University campus on Monday, Nov. 7.