Finalists Announced

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                      

January 9, 2008

Public Information Office

(417) 625-9399

 

Dr. Bruce Speck

JOPLIN, MO (SNS) – The list of finalists for the position of  President at Missouri Southern State University has narrowed to two. 

Mr. Dwight Douglas, chair of the Board of Governors at MSSU, announced in a news conference today that Dr. Bruce W. Speck, Provost and Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tenn., and Dr. Joe A. Wiley, President of Rogers State University in Claremore, Okla., are the finalists for the position.
 

Dr. Joe A. Wiley

A Search Committee headed by Mr. Douglas has been working since last August to fill the post of President after Dr. Julio S. León announced his retirement. Dr. Terri Agee, formerly Vice President for Business Affairs, has been serving as Acting President since Dr. León’s announcement.
           

Mr. Douglas thanked the members of the Search Committee and members of the Board of Governors who had reviewed a total of 41 applications submitted.  He said public visits to Missouri Southern are scheduled for next week.

 "We could not be in a better situation to have two highly qualified candidates from which to choose," Mr. Douglas stated. "We spent hours with each of them and they both provided outstanding interviews." 

Dr. Bruce Speck will visit the campus for an 11 a.m. public forum in the Billingsly Student Center 2nd floor lounge followed by a noon reception open to the campus community and the general community at the same location on Wednesday, Jan. 16. He will meet with various campus and community groups throughout the afternoon.

 

Dr. Joe Wiley will take part in a noon reception open to the campus community and the general community in the Billingsly Student Center 2nd floor lounge on Thursday, Jan. 17 followed by a 1 p.m. public forum at the same location. He also will meet with various campus and community groups throughout the day.

The Board of Governors has a regular meeting scheduled for 1 p.m., Friday, Jan. 18.

Dr. Speck received a B.A. in English from the University of Northern Colorado, an M.A.E. from Wayne State College and a Ph.D. in English with emphasis in Rhetoric and Composition from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Dr. Wiley received a B.S. in Mathematics from Southeastern Oklahoma State University, an M.S. from the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville and a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville.

 

#

Dr. Bruce W. Speck

Dr. Bruce Speck is currently Provost and Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs at Austin Peay State University (APSU) in Clarksville, Tenn., one of six universities in the Tennessee Board of Regents System. In his position, Speck is involved with financial management, fundraising and grant development, hiring, mentoring and evaluating faculty and serving as “chief guardian of academic integrity.”

 

From 2001-2005, Speck served as Vice President for Academic Affairs and tenured Professor of English.

Before joining APSU, Speck served at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Professor of English and Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (1999-2000) and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of English (2000-2001).

 

Prior to that, Speck was at the University of Memphis in the capacity of Assistant Professor (1990-1993), Associate Professor, Department of English, and Coordinator, Writing-Across-the-Curriculum program (1993-1997), Professor, Department of English and Coordinator, Writing-Across-the-Curriculum program (1997-1999), and Acting Director, Center for Academic Excellence (1997-1999).

 

Speck has also served at Indiana University Purdue University at Fort Wayne as an assistant professor, where he was hired to develop a master’s program in technical writing (1987-1990).

 

His industry experience includes being a science writer at Norden Laboratories in Lincoln, Nebraska (1984-1986) and an associate at Kamterter, Inc. in Lincoln.

 

Speck’s academic credentials include a Ph.D. in English with emphasis in Rhetoric and Composition, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (1980-1984), an M.A.E. in English, Wayne State College in Nebraska (1978-1980), and a B.A. in English, University of Northern Colorado (1973-1975).

 

Speck is the author of numerous book monographs, book chapters, annotated bibliographies and journal articles.

One of his most recent monographs, co-authored with Jordy Rocheleau, is Rights and Wrongs in the College Classroom: Ethical Issues in Postsecondary Teaching.

 

 

Dr. Joe A. Wiley

Dr. Joe A. Wiley became President of Rogers State University on January 1, 1999.

 

In 2002, Dr. Wiley was awarded the prestigious John L. Blackburn Award for Exemplary Administrative Leadership from the American Association of University Administrators (AAUA) for his role during RSU’s transition from a two-year to a four-year institution.

The award is the most prestigious award given by the AAUA – the nation’s largest and most respected organization of university administrators. Wiley was presented the award in Boston, Mass.

 

Each year, the AAUA presents Exemplary Models of Administrative Leadership Awards, which recognize outstanding examples of academic leadership that demonstrate creative solutions to common issues in higher education.” Recipients are selected from proposals submitted by legislative bodies, accrediting agencies and educational institutions across the nation.

The Blackburn Award is the top award given by the AAUA, presented to the proposal judged best overall among all proposals submitted for the awards. It is the single highest honor given to a university administrator in the nation.

 

Previously, Dr. Wiley served as Executive Vice President and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Southeastern Oklahoma State University (SEOSU) in Durant, Oklahoma. He served in that capacity from 1995 to 1998. Before that, he was Vice President for Academic Affairs at SEOSU from 1990 to 1995. He served as Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs from 1988 to 1990. He was a Professor and Chairman of the Department of Computer Science at SEOSU from 1981 to 1988.

 

Dr. Wiley received a doctoral degree (Ph.D.) in mathematics from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 1979. He completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Computer Science at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1981. He received a master of science degree (M.S.) from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 1974 and a bachelor of science degree (B.S.) from Southeastern Oklahoma State University in 1972.

 

He traveled to China on three occasions in 1985, 1986, and 1987 to serve as a technical consultant to the State Commission on Science and Technology.

 

From 1985 to 1987, he was selected four times as the recipient of the Kellogg Foundation Leadership Training Grant by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.

He is a member of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education Council of Presidents.  He serves as Secretary of the Council and Chair of the Subcommittee on Innovation and Technology.

 

His civic activities include serving on the Claremore Regional Hospital Board of Trustees and the Claremore Ethics Board.

 

He has made several state, national, and international presentations on student assessment and teacher education. He is a member of the Mathematical Association of America and the Association of Computing Machinery. A native Oklahoman, he lives in Claremore, with his wife and two children.

 

 

 

News Bureau Home