From New Mexico to Missouri

Brian Foster has a window in his house with a perfect view of the Sandia Mountains. In late July, he will have to say goodbye to that window and to the New Mexican breakfast burritos he loves. But he’s thrilled about moving to Columbia.

Foster, 66, is leaving his job as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque to become provost at MU.

In a telephone interview after he was named to the post on Friday, Foster called MU “an extraordinary university” and acknowledged the overarching role of serving as provost.

“I want to make my mark by serving very different kinds of important constituencies of the university, from the high-quality undergraduate education, the arts, all of the different kinds of research and sciences, professorial education and support for economic development,” he said.

Foster’s annual salary is $230,000. His responsibilities include planning all academic programs and support functions. As the chief academic officer on campus, Foster will be accountable for the 12 colleges and their schools, the MU libraries, the Office of Research, the Extension Division, the Graduate School and student affairs.

The two other finalists for the job were Janie Fouke, dean of the College of Engineering at Michigan State University in Lansing; and Raymond Alden, executive vice president and provost at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas.

Foster said he applied for the position and had also been nominated. He learned of the job online and had already established a rapport with Brady Deaton, who was provost before becoming MU chancellor in September, by serving together in some of the same organizations.

“We are very pleased that Brian has agreed to join us and bring his proven leadership to enhance the Mizzou mission,” Deaton said in a prepared statement.

“His passion, experience and expertise make him the ideal person for this position. He is bringing extensive leadership and visionary skills to MU at a critical juncture in our own path towards excellence.”

Foster said he wants to learn more about the campus before making specific plans. “There are all kinds of things that I think are important to do,” he said. “After two weeks or a month in Columbia, I’ll know a thousand times more than I know now about the University of Missouri.”

At the University of New Mexico, Foster implemented policies to improve faculty relations and honored faculty members to boost retention.

“I see diversity as multidimensional,” he said on Friday. “The university is enriched incredibly with different ideas, different values, different ways of seeing the world and approaches to learning and scholarship. Diversity is seen in gender, internationally and also across academic fields – it’s the difference between music and physics. Different perspectives in creative enterprise is what the university is really about.”

Although there’s much he will miss about New Mexico, Foster said he is looking forward to the move. His son, a graduate of the MU School of Journalism, loves Columbia, and Foster said he thinks he will also warm up to it quickly.

“College towns are maybe the most exciting and wonderful environments in the world,” he said. “And the University of Missouri is one of the best public universities in the country.”