For new Provost, coworkers make the job
Sitting on the bench in the shade outside of Miller Hall–her second office, she calls it–Provost Dana Baer sees two people she works with.
The first is her secretary, Norma Harper, whom Baer said has been at the university for nearly 60 years and is an “institutional gem.”
The second is Laura Cross, an assistant controller in the Business Office, who she jokes with for loving accounting.
“You need to surround yourself with people who love the things you know nothing about,” Baer, a lawyer by trade, said.
Dr. Dana Baer began her career as a partner in the law firm of Marriner & Crumrine, as well as a law clerk for the Court of Common Pleas of Washington County, Pennsylvania.
In 1998, Baer joined Waynesburg University full time as a professor of criminal justice administration.
Baer said she acted as the program director for criminal justice, back when criminal justice was part of the business department.
“When I began [in higher education], it wasn’t something that I wanted to be – an administrator,” Baer said. “It is more that I just want to help the university, and it’s just the case that I have the skillset to fit this role as provost.”
Since then, she has served in numerous roles with the university. In administrative roles, Baer has previously served as dean of undergraduate studies, assistant provost for first-year studies and, most recently, interim provost.
In academic roles, Baer has also served as the chair of the Department of Criminal Justice Administration, as well as interim chair for the Departments of Business Administration and English and Foreign Languages.
In late December, after Dr. Jacquelyn Core resigned as provost, President Douglas Lee approached Baer about serving as the interim provost.
Baer was asked to wear another hat, and she felt that it was in God’s path for her, she said. She said with her history in law, and nearly 20 years experience in teaching, she has the skillset to be provost.
“I love problem-solving,” Baer said. “With my history in law, and with teaching, I think problem-solving is very important for this position.”
After Baer was named interim provost, the university assembled a search committee made up of four staff members and administrators and six professors at Waynesburg University.
Richard Krause, chair of the search committee and chairperson for the Department of Communication, said the purpose of the search committee was to be a “faculty-led process.”
The committee started accepting applications in early January and officially hired Baer in late May.
Krause said the applicant pool was “deep” and diverse, with people from all over the country sending in applications. The committee had a checklist of qualities they wanted out of a candidate, which included the support of the mission and stability, Krause said.
“The mission was at the top of the list. It had to be somebody who was comfortable, and would not only be comfortable working in the environment of a Christian institution, but would have a vision to be able to expand what we do here and our vision and achieve our goals,” he said.
“For me, stability was important. We wanted to bring somebody in who would basically want to be at Waynesburg and want to be at Waynesburg for a long time.”
Baer was among four applicants considered finalists, two of whom were invited to campus for interviews in May with several different groups of people on campus.
“[We] wanted as much of the college campus to be involved in the process as possible,” Krause said. “Faculty members came in to meet with both candidates who interviewed on campus. [Department] chairs had a role, a separate meeting where chairs could meet with the candidates. Students were chosen. We were limited because students were gone [in May], but working with Student Services we brought in a group of engaging student leaders.”
Once the process was finished, the search committee made its final recommendation to Lee, who followed the committee’s suggestion and hired Baer.
“Members of the committee invested a great amount of time on this committee,” Krause said.
For Baer, this is the first fall semester in her nearly 20-year career at Waynesburg that she will not be teaching classes. She said she misses teaching, especially the students, some of which have taken the initiative to write on her whiteboard outside her old office in Buhl about how much they miss her.
Referencing the Tim McGraw song “Humble and Kind,” Baer said she believes those two characteristics are “key to serving as provost.”
Baer said she especially decided she wanted to serve in the position because of the people at Waynesburg she has worked with for the last 18-plus years.
“I wouldn’t have wanted to be in this office if I didn’t have the colleagues that are here,” Baer said. “We have something special here.”