While stability may be a priority for colleges having budget struggles, a new provost can be the key to moving forward during a difficult time, says Jan Greenwood, president and chief executive officer of Greenwood/Asher & Associates, an executive search firm. A college undergoing budget cuts might be mistaken to seek out a “slash and burn” administrator, however, and should instead be looking for someone with a history of building consensus amid challenges, she says.

“One could paint a picture where you went out and got one of those [slash and burn] types and brought them in and created absolute havoc,” Greenwood says. “But when you hire someone who has an excellent reputation working with people and working through tough, tough issues, then that’s a different proposition.”

The provost knows things that the faculty members don't. And a lot of them have to do with money.

I know that this year's operating budget is the least of our worries. The capital budget, the institution's debt capacity, the current debt load, the anticipated need for significant maintenance (deferred or not) — those each cost a lot of money and fluctuate broadly, sometimes unpredictably: "Mr. Provost, that roof on the dining hall? I know you don't want to put a new roof on during sleet storms in December, but ceiling tiles in the vegetarian stir-fry just aren't acceptable." (That particular dining hall was in the residence hall where I lived at the time, so we all spent December listening to the contractors drill through concrete to put in the drains. It felt as if everyone in the building was having dental work at the same time.)