MSU provost ready for implementing what he has learned

Oct. 15—Minnesota State University's provost and senior vice president for academic affairs grew up in the small Alabama town of Carrollton, where he had family members who served as role models for the importance of education.

Several cousins have been teachers, David Hood said, and an aunt had a 40-year career that included being the first Black teacher in the county.

"She kind of integrated the school system from a teaching perspective," he said.

Even though he experienced from an early age the impact that a Black role model can have on those around them, he admitted he doesn't always think of himself as filling that role. His focus, he said, has always been on fulfilling expectations of his job.

Sometimes, however, his impact takes a personal form.

About one month into last fall semester, he met a track team member at an event and encouraged the student to reach out to him if he needed anything. Shortly afterward, this student had some trouble that jeopardized his spot on the team.

"He reached out about that event, and I kind of gave him information on how to navigate it," the provost said, using his knowledge of the system. Last spring, that student reached out again and asked to meet for coffee.

"He updated me on how he had gone through the punishment and had been able to go through that reconciliation process. Now he's back on the team; he's competing."

Hood's being a Black man broke down barriers that might have prevented this student from reaching out for help, he said. And for the provost, who is now in his second year, it was tangible proof he can make a difference.

"He said to me, 'You don't know how powerful it is for you just to be here.' Well, I didn't. While I understand the historical significance (of being a Black man in this position), I didn't think the students were paying attention," Hood said.

"But for him to say that, it really makes a difference that I'm just here."

Hood became the university's third provost on July 1, 2022, following Scott Olson and Marilyn Wells. Two others, Matt Cecil and Brian Martensen, had served as interims.

Hood has a daunting job description. The university's website states: "The provost and senior vice president of academic affairs at Minnesota State Mankato provides vision and direction to strengthen the University's academics while advancing the strategic goals of the University. The provost serves as the senior academic officer of the University, reports directly to the president, is a member of the president's cabinet and represents the University in the president's absence."

As provost, he has a team of four associate provosts who are "my arms and my legs," he said. They are able to get into the university community and gather information he can share with the president.

"That's difficult for some people to embrace because they want to see the provost. They want to touch the provost. So, what I try to tell them is that these are my generals, and they can go places that I can't because it's just humanly impossible for me to be in multiple places at one time," he said.

As senior vice president among seven total, he acts as second-in-command, stepping in when President Edward Inch is not available and helping the president set the direction of the university in providing an ever-changing definition of quality education to students.

This allows the president to fill the many roles that the 21st century requires.

"I think as we think about how higher education is evolving, it's important that the president be allowed to function as the president. And that means that he needs to be outwardly facing and really out meeting with donors, out meeting with legislators, meeting with alums, being the spokesperson for the institution," he said.

That evolution includes who a university defines as a student, Hood said. He clarified the president's statement at this year's convocation that the university hopes to have 30,000 students by the year 2030 by expanding the definition of "learner."

"I think going into the future, if you look at how students are learning now, they're not really coming to an institution for four years, five years, and sitting and getting a degree," Hood said.

"They want a credential, they want a badge, they want something that can give them the ability to go out and be employable. Or they want something that's going to allow them to perform better in their current job or to get a promotion."

So, while maintaining the traditional core of four-year-degree-granting programs, the university expands its impact and its revenue generation by offering these additional shorter-term opportunities.

Think of it as big ideas and real-world thinking.

David Jones was the administrative chair of the search committee that selected Hood. The MSU vice president for student affairs and enrollment management likely learned more about Hood than anyone.

"I was and continue to be impressed with how David can build upon his previous experiences to help us be better for our students, our faculty, and our community," Jones said. "He sees a bigger picture and is leading us toward improvements."

The MSU president also has been happy with Hood's contributions to this point.

"Dr. Hood has been a strong addition to our team at Minnesota State Mankato," Inch said. "It was evident in the interview process that he was a strategic, innovative, collaborative and transformational leader in higher education."

The example set by his ground-breaking aunt contributed to his feeling that he wanted his lifetime role in education to go beyond the classroom. He immediately set his sights on a leadership position where he could make a bigger contribution.

Eventually, those sights moved from K-12 to college-level leadership.

"I knew all along that I wanted to be more than a teacher. I wanted to lead," is how he put it. "I've always had leadership traits and qualities," which he showed by assuming roles as drum major in his band, editor of the yearbook and student body president in high school.

Music was such a big role that he received a trumpet scholarship when he chose Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University in Normal, Alabama, for his bachelor's degree in secondary education, biology and history.

Hood earned a doctorate of education in administration and supervision, concentration in higher education, from Tennessee State University in Nashville. That followed an education specialist and master's degree in administration and supervision from Tennessee State.

He came to Mankato from Montclair State University in New Jersey, where he helped launch University College. From 2010-18 he served as associate dean and dean at North Carolina Central University.

He also has held administrative and/or faculty appointments at Central Michigan University (2011-2015), Virginia Union University (2009-2010), Elizabeth City State University (2007-2009), Tennessee State University (2007) and J.F. Drake Technical College (2001-2002).

The provost spends the week in Mankato but often travels to Durham, North Carolina, on weekends where he has a home with his husband, Eric. They have been together 20 years and married for five. They help care for Eric's mother and a 10-year-old relative.

"I feel very committed to Minnesota State Mankato, but also saying that I also have a residence in Durham, North Carolina. I'm fully committed," he said, adding that the institution believes in a work-life balance for everyone.

With more than a year under his belt in Mankato — a year that has been spent doing an inventory of programs vs. needs — he is excited about working now toward a future that will meet those needs.

"It will give us an opportunity to look critically at who we are at our core from a programmatic perspective," he said. "And it will allow us to do a thorough analysis of what our past and what our current is. And then what is it that we want our future to be?"