After going six months without a permanent provost, Ashland University announced on June 25 that they hired new provost Dr. Amiel Jarstfer, who then began his new position on July 1.

Dating back to the beginning of the 2019 spring semester, AU had been on a hunt to find a new provost after Dr. Eun-Woo Chang suddenly resigned last December. Since that time, associate provost Dr. Todd Marshall became the interim provost for the university until the search committee could find a new provost.

“One of the things we are looking to do is to continue our emphasis on great teaching,” AU President Dr. Carlos Campo said. “One of the things we are hoping the provost will do as he works with faculty is continue to improve teaching both face-to-face, online and in any setting.”

Campo also explained that along with great teaching, he has two other main goals in which he would like to see Jarstfer make strives on in the coming months and years at AU.

“Enhancing teaching at Ashland, expanding our program development and ensuring that we are improving with academic excellence are the three top priorities for the provost,” Campo said.

Jarstfer’s previous employment includes most recently Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee where he previously held the position of vice president for Academic Affairs. Jarstfer has also held a number of higher education positions throughout his career at LMU, LeTourneau University and the University of Florida.

While Jarstfer has climbed the ladder through administration/academic leadership roles, he still has a passion for teaching and being in the classroom. He was a biology professor for 15 years at LeTourneau University before moving onto LMU while still continuing to teach classes at LMU.

“As a faculty member, you have a wonderful opportunity and responsibility to impact the students that you have in your classes most directly,” Jarstfer said. “As you move up you have the opportunity to influence even more students by impacting colleagues who then impact the students directly.”

Jarstfer’s main duties as provost will be to interact with the deans of each college and work with faculty members to provide the highest quality of educational programs for AU.

However, Jarstfer’s passion is with the students and he is looking forward to that interaction with this community of AU students.

“I’m pretty passionate about student success which doesn’t mean that we make things easy on students, it means that we provide the support for students to learn and become who they’re supposed to be,” Jarstfer said.

Due to the fact that Jarstfer arrived to Ashland in the summer, he has not yet been able to experience the campus community and the atmosphere of when students are around.

Therefore, Jarstfer said that he cannot wait for the school year to return because seeing the students return back to campus from summer break is the most exciting and energizing part of the year for him.