Sheila R. Caskey has been named interim provost of Southeast Missouri State University. The announcement was made by the University's Board of Regents Thursday.
Caskey currently serves as dean of Graduate Studies and Extended Learning at Southeast.
"Dean Caskey will serve as interim provost beginning July 1, and until the new provost is hired, to provide leadership in the academic area during our search for a successor to Provost Leslie Cochran, who has accepted the presidency at Youngstown State University," said Kala M. Stroup, president of Southeast Missouri State University.
"The Academic Division will feel the loss of Les Cochran's strong leadership," said Caskey. "However, we are fortunate in having a group of strong academic deans who will form the leadership team that I feel privileged to lead during this interim period."
Caskey joined the faculty of Southeast in 1965 as an instructor in the Physical Education Department. She was promoted to assistant professor in 1971, associate professor in 1974, and professor in 1975.
She was awarded tenure in the fall of 1971. In 1979 she was named dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Dean of the combined School of Graduate Studies and Extended Learning in 1983. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Purdue University and a Master of Science and Bachelor of Science from Illinois State University-Normal.
In other personnel-related actions, the Board of Regents approved the appointment of Deborah Beard as chairperson of the Department of Accounting and Finance for a three-year term, effective with the 1992-93 academic year.
Beard, who holds a doctorate from the University of Arkansas, has been employed at Southeast since 1976. She has served as acting chairperson in the Department of Accounting and Finance since August 1991 while a national search was conducted for a permanent chairperson.
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