Students and faculty gathered in Mayo Concert Hall on Friday, Oct. 26 for an open campus session with Charles Caramello, a candidate for provost and vice president for Academic Affairs here at the College.
Caramello has worked as the associate provost for academic affairs and dean of the graduate school at the University of Maryland since 2006. He joined the University in 1978 and has served its campus in many academic and administrative positions since then.
Caramello opened the session by discussing what brought him to the College in the first place.
“There are three reasons why I am here, it’s a university that has achieved excellence, aspiration is really important here and it has a great location that offers many opportunities to both students and faculty,” he said.
Throughout the session, students and faculty voiced their concerns regarding various issues involving the role of provost, including academic affairs, student life and the requirements of faculty at the College.
When asked, Caramello articulated that typically there is not direct relationship between the students and the provost, and that a student’s intermediate relationship is with the institution rather then the provost.
However, Caramello added ways in which he would become more involved with students on campus.
“I’m a great believer in walking the campus and creating those informal relationships,” he said. “I also believe it is important that the provost meets directly and indirectly with your student government, this way there is a lot of formal mechanisms for engagement with students.”
Caramello voiced many goals he had planned for the College if, in fact, he were selected to become the provost. One of his main ambitions is to help the College achieve a greater national reputation and more recognition.
He made sure to mention that such a goal could take years to achieve, but that does not mean it is not possible. He suggested that one way to move towards such recognition would be to collaborate and work closely with other institutions in the area. In addition, by continuing to achieve excellence the College will continue to attract students and in hopes achieving that national reputation he is working toward.
Finally, Caramello added that his goal was to make the College a place for the evolution of students as intellectuals.
“What excites me about higher education is people coming in as one thing and out as another,” he said. “I want to create enabling conditions so students can really transform.”
Under Caramello’s leadership, the University of Maryland’s graduate school has established various fellowships as well as achievements.
