When Dr. Diana McGill was approached by President Cady Short-Thompson and learned she was a top prospect to become Northern Kentucky University’s next provost, the feelings that followed mirrored those McGill had felt at several other junctures in her career.

McGill earned her PhD in biochemistry from Harvard University in 1991 and envisioned herself leading a world-class research lab or working in the commercial industry. She ended up taking a faculty position in NKU’s chemistry department despite having scruples about teaching. Her hesitancy eventually turned to glee. 

Then came a policy change at NKU limiting the terms of department chairs across campus. McGill’s colleagues exhorted her to apply to chair the department of chemistry and biochemistry – met again by her resistance. She got the position. 

Then came the opening for interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Her peers urged her to apply. She balked at the thought of being a dean. She was named interim dean, and it took just a few short weeks for her to realize she made the right choice, touching off her nearly seven-year stint as dean after taking the standing position. 

Her appointment as provost followed a different path, but the emotions were similar, McGill said. 

President Short-Thompson announced on Jan. 5 that former Provost Matt Cecil would no longer occupy the position and would transition to a minted position as special advisor to the president. In that announcement, she named McGill provost and executive vice president of Academic and Student Affairs, pending approval from the Board of Regents, which was affirmed at their meeting on Jan. 17.

The announcement raised questions from the campus community stemming from the appointment’s unusual process. Typically, a provost would be named after a national search checked by community input, a hiring committee and multiple rounds of interviews. But there was no search or indication that a new provost was imminent leading up to the announcement.

Short-Thompson fast-tracked the procedure, citing the need for urgency in stabilizing the university’s budget. “I felt significant pressure to move swiftly so that we can realize the needed decisions [for] a balanced budget,” the president explained at the Board of Regents meeting on Jan. 17.

At the meeting McGill was sworn in as provost, and Faculty Regent Dr. Sandra Spataro expressed concern about the hastened process. “Given the unprecedented nature of the decision to appoint a permanent provost, the Faculty Senate deserved at least the courtesy of a conversation,” Spataro said. “In this case, the faculty’s opinion was not sought, much less considered.”

The blowback, McGill argued in an interview with The Northerner, should be just as much on her as on the president. 

“I thought it was the right thing for the institution, even though I understand all the ways in which it’s fraught, and I trusted her decision,” said McGill. “Ultimately, I’m the one who said yes, so the heat should be on me.”

Scientist to provost

Coming out of graduate school, McGill never expected that she would end up teaching at NKU – much less eventually becoming the institution’s provost.

“100% I never imagined myself in a provost office. I’m in shock still,” she said.

McGill served as a graduate teaching assistant while finishing her graduate program at Harvard. She came to dislike the teaching environment and was reluctant to take a job as a professor after earning her doctorate. But her husband, whom she married as an undergraduate, was unflinching in his desire to live in Northern Kentucky – where they’re both from. She attended the University of Cincinnati for her post-doctorate to accommodate her husband’s wishes, a move that entailed declining postdoctoral positions at Washington University and Harvard Medical School.

It wasn’t until she finished her postdoctoral at UC that she realized industry jobs for biochemists were scarce in the area at the time.  

Chemistry Professor Emeritus William Oliver chaired the department when McGill was an undergraduate, and he continually recruited her to teach while she was completing her postdoctoral. She was offered a job in the chemistry department and declined it. 

Dr. Robert Kempton, who taught McGill organic chemistry when she was an undergrad and was a member of the search committee, said she was decisively the strongest candidate for the job. Kempton said they offered the runner-up candidate the position, and that candidate declined it, which prompted them to postpone the search.  

Another year passed and McGill still hadn’t found an ideal job. The chemistry department hadn’t found their ideal fit either. She applied again and took it but not without some convincing. 

“She was hesitant at first, because having gone to Harvard and done prestigious research there, and the University of Cincinnati, and the same thing there, she could have been a very prestigious, well-known researcher,” said Oliver. “I suggested that if she came to work for us, if she gave us two years then she could still go back and do prestigious research.”  

This reasoning, along with conditions that ensured her a balanced workload between teaching and helming a research lab, persuaded her that she should return to NKU as a faculty member.

“I’ll never forget going into [Oliver’s] office at the end of the first year, and I said, ‘Well, I have news for you.’ And he goes, ‘What?’ I go, ‘I don’t need another year. I absolutely love this. I can’t even believe how much I love this. I’m here,’” recalled McGill. 

McGill’s hopes of teaching at NKU haven’t withered with her becoming provost, but she doesn’t see herself teaching for the foreseeable future while she gains her footing. Teaching was the very thing that turned her off from taking a position at NKU earlier in her career, but surprisingly, it’s a task she has yearned for but eluded her so often in her career.

McGill said she adores working with students in the classroom and in the lab. When she took over as chair of the chemistry department, she stepped away from her research lab after four years to focus on her administrative duties. She remained chair for about nine years until another faculty member expressed interest in taking over. She was elated to go back to being faculty.

“You have no idea how much I love being a faculty member. That was my plan. I was just gonna be a faculty member,” said McGill.

That didn’t last long. 

Soon she took the position as interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and then the acting dean. She was hesitant to take on the role, but she said it was the team that persuaded her she made the right choice. 

When President Short-Thompson voiced interest in making her provost, it was again the team she would be surrounded by that sold her. 

“I decided to say yes to apply for dean because the team was so strong that I felt like I could work with them, because whoever sits in the office of the dean or provost doesn’t do the job by themselves. The team does the job,” said McGill.

Road ahead as provost

McGill’s first order of business as provost is designing the fiscal year 2025 budget, she said. This is an especially pressing issue at the moment because of the recent departure of former Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Alltop. 

The Kentucky General Assembly is in session and working on the state’s budget for the next two years, which includes a round of funding for the state’s public universities. In an email to the campus community, Short-Thompson wrote that the university is seeking money for “overall operating funds” and “capital funds for much needed asset preservation.”

McGill said that it being a budget year in the state legislature added another layer of urgency in ensuring that NKU has stability in its administration. 

Supporting staff and faculty in the wake of budget constraints that surfaced last year is another chief priority, said McGill. In a mass email sent on Jan. 18 following the Board of Regents meeting, Short-Thompson said faculty and staff frequently report juggling a heightened workload. That announcement follows the reduction of 125 full-time faculty and staff positions last year meant to recalibrate the budget.

McGill said that boosting student enrollment and retention is another point of interest for her while she is in office. 

While there are several pivotal matters for McGill to minister in the present, she is also bearing an eye toward the future by considering what the university should look like several years from now and setting the university up to fulfill those goals, she said.

“What does NKU look like in five years and how do we get there? Those are the fun thoughts to have. What does our region need? What do our students need?” said McGill.

A good teacher, scientist and administrator 

Her former professor and mentor Oliver is confident that McGill will excel as provost, and he wasn’t surprised to hear the news that she is now provost. 

Oliver described her as someone with the aptitude and drive that allows her to be good at anything.

“Some people have the trait of, whatever they’re doing, they do well, and that’s her situation. If she was driving a taxi, she would be a good taxi cab driver. She’s a good teacher. She’s a good administrator. She’s a good scientist. There are people like that, and she’s right at the top of the list,” said Oliver.