During the Spring General Faculty Meeting meeting today, University of Central Missouri President Roger Best named university academic leader Tim Crowley, DMA, interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. Crowley currently serves as Vice Provost for Academic Programs and Dean of Graduate Studies and Research and begins this interim service on July 1. He will continue to maintain his role as the university’s liaison with the Higher Learning Commission (HLC).
The appointment was made following the recent announcement that Provost Phil Bridgmon, Ph.D., who has served UCM since 2019, has accepted a new position as Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs at the University of South Carolina at Aiken (USCA). Bridgmon, who is currently away from UCM on a Fulbright U.S. International Education Administration Award, will assume his new post in July.
Best also announced that he has appointed an internal committee to facilitate a national search to fill the provost position. Shari Bax, Ph.D., vice president for Student Experience and Engagement, will chair this group. The search process is expected to culminate in the naming of the next provost later this year, with an anticipated start date of Jan. 1, 2025. Additional details regarding the search will be provided by the search committee in the coming weeks.
Crowley will assume the interim post with 29 years of higher education academic and leadership experiences. He joined UCM in 2022 after serving as Associate Provost for Academic Affairs at Fort Hays State University (FHSU) in Kansas. In that capacity, he was engaged in curriculum management, serving as an accreditation liaison officer (ALO) for HLC, providing leadership for the Honors College, General Education Program, Center for Civic Leadership, and Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) program. He also oversaw department chair leadership development, program review, student success efforts, university strategic planning, and academic technology initiatives. Over his career at FHSU, Crowley served as a department chair, graduate dean/assistant provost for internationalization, and graduate dean/assistant provost for academic programs, and assistant provost for academic programs and student success. Prior to working at FHSU, Crowley served on the faculties of Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma, and Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.
Upon arriving at UCM, he immediately employed his previous HLC experience to lead and organize the work necessary to prepare for the accrediting organization’s 10-year site visit to UCM on March 18-19, 2024. Crowley has also been highly engaged with recent efforts to implement the UCM strategic plan, grow graduate and international student enrollment, and to establish strong connections with in-state and out-of-state two-year institutions to help facilitate a seamless transition of transfer students who want to pursue a four-year degree at UCM.
In preparation for his university career, Crowley earned his Bachelor of Music (Performance), graduating summa cum laude from Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois, in 1990. He earned two degrees from the University of North Texas, Denton: A Master of Music (Composition) in 1993 and a Doctor of Musical Arts (Composition) in 1995.