Academic Search Assists North Park University in the Recruitment of Provost

June 15, 2021 – Education-focused executive recruiter Academic Search has helped to place Michael S. Carr as the new provost and chief academic officer for North Park University, a Christian university in Chicago. Andrea Warren Hamos and Mahauganee D. Shaw led the assignment.

Dr. Carr will join the president’s cabinet, beginning July 1. He succeeds Craig Johnson, who held the role for 18 months. Dr. Johnson previously served as provost at North Park in 2014–15 and served as dean of the School of Music from 2011–2019.

Dr. Carr was selected after a national search conducted by a diverse committee of colleagues representing North Park faculty, staff, administrators and the board of trustees, in partnership with Academic Search. He emerged as the premier candidate from a strong pool of four finalists, after well-attended campus forums and more than 200 submitted feedback forms that overwhelmingly supported him, said North Park University.

“Dr. Carr is a person of active and expressed Christian faith and has been active for over 20 years in his Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) congregation,” said president Mary K. Surridge. “He is very enthused about the mission and opportunity to serve North Park, lead our faculty and be a strong strategic senior partner with the president now, and into the decade to come….I have full confidence in his leadership, our partnership and his ability to support and advance our Christian mission.”

Academic Leadership

“I am grateful for the opportunity to serve at a university which aligns my personal and professional values,” said Dr. Carr. “I look forward to working with the tremendous faculty and the collective community as North Park University becomes a model of urban, Christian education through community engagement and impact.”

As provost, Dr. Carr will be charged with providing leadership for the development and implementation of all academic planning and policy as well as the academic budget, reviewing and approving academic appointments, and making recommendations to the president on promotion and tenure decisions. Within this role, he will be expected to coordinates across all academic units—College of Arts and Sciences; School of Business & Non-profit Management; School of Education; School of Nursing & Health Sciences; School of Music, Art and Theatre; School of Professional Studies; and Theological Seminary.

Dr. Carr has achieved measurable and demonstrated success in academic program development, personnel management, budget management and strategic partnerships across higher education in the city of Chicago, said the university.  He has demonstrated success with articulation agreements with two-year community colleges (an important and growing transfer market for North Park) and was the candidate with the deepest understanding and experience with a Hispanic serving institution (HSI) in Chicago.

Previously, Dr. Carr was with National Louis University in Chicago where he has served as deputy provost responsible for advancing change leadership across the academic enterprise and providing direction and executive oversight that promotes academic excellence and positive student outcomes. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Olivet Nazarene University, his master’s from Ball State University and his doctorate in molecular biology from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Related: Why Universities Have Stepped Up Efforts to Involve Search Firms

Founded in 1891 by the Evangelical Covenant Church, North Park University serves nearly 3,200 undergraduate and graduate students from around the country and the world. Within a diverse, close-knit community, North Park offers a values-based education to students through more than 40 undergraduate majors and an adult degree-completion program, as well as graduate and continuing education in business, nonprofit management, nursing, education, music, and theology.

Higher Education Recruiters

For over three decades, Academic Search has been a leader in designing and implementing search processes for leaders of colleges and universities across the country. The firm has completed hundreds of executive searches for higher education institutions and related organizations, for roles ranging from presidents to provosts to deans. Academic Search is the only search firm in the nation with a formal relationship to a premier leadership development program. As the subsidiary of the American Academic Leadership Institute (AALI), the firm provides substantial financial support to a number of leadership identification, development and support programs across all sectors of public and private higher education. The firm is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Warren Hamos is vice president for consulting operations and senior consultant at Academic Search. Prior to her appointment, she served for five years as associate director, and subsequently interim director, of the American Council on Education’s (ACE) Emerging Leaders Group and the ACE Fellows Program.

Dr. Shaw, a consultant, is an experienced higher education professional, having served as both a student affairs administrator and graduate faculty member. Prior to joining Academic Search, she worked on multiple campuses, most recently in a tenure-track position within the Department of Educational Leadership at Miami University (OH). Before that, Dr. Shaw worked in the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University, helping to administer and report on various annual surveys, include the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE) and the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). Directly prior to her time in Indiana, she was the assistant dean and director for the Office of Student Engagement and Leadership Development at Dillard University, helping that institution sustain and recover from the impacts of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Related: Academic Search Recruits President for Norwich University

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media