Profile of FSU's Provost

Colleges & Universities Florida State University
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<p>Here’s a bit of insight into Florida State’s provost:</p>

<p>By Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler, Times Staff Writer
In print: Sunday, August 10, 2008 </p>

<p>TALLAHASSEE — The sign leading into provost Larry Abele’s office at Florida State University is unequivocal: It’s the students, stupid.</p>

<p>Inside, his bookshelves sag under the weight of three-ring binders and reports that track such things as enrollment and graduation trends, faculty departures and salary data.</p>

<p>This is Larry Abele the administrator: outspoken, unapologetic, driven by numbers. Willing to fire deans or deny tenure to a popular instructor.</p>

<p>Larry Abele, father and husband, is more nuanced. The first-generation college graduate has an altruistic bent that influences some of his most recent successes — including FSU’s nationally lauded support program serving low-income minorities.

FSU enjoys the highest black student graduation rate in the country, thanks to the academic program for first-generation college students that Abele has worked to expand and improve. A $90-million rainy-day fund, built up quietly under the leadership of Abele and other top administrators, is enabling FSU to push forward with a plan for hiring superstar professors — even as other state colleges freeze or eliminate teaching positions.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Yet Abele, 62, is not universally liked, and he accepts that.

He got noticed while serving on a committee evaluating the department’s professors. Rather than let politics and personalities sway him, as is often the case in academia, he spent hours researching their work. He created a huge handwritten spreadsheet analyzing their productivity.</p>

<p>Abele moved up the ladder, from department chairman to liberal arts college dean to provost, a post he has held since 1994.</p>

<p>Wetherell says Abele changed the way the provost’s office is run by relying more than any predecessor on hard numbers and the smallest details.</p>

<p>"Larry is a scientist, so his thought process follows a logical progression, and he doesn’t get emotionally involved when a dean says ‘I need more money.’ " Wetherell explains. "He pulls out a bar graph, and says, ‘Here’s your enrollment, here’s your faculty. Here’s your current budget, here’s where you’re projected to grow, so, yes, you need this money or, no, you don’t.’ "

Abele does not advertise it, but one of his most significant roles is being the longtime surrogate father to two African-American sisters who overcame difficult backgrounds to become successful adults. They were grade school students of his wife, and for years the Abeles have nurtured them as their own.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;So friends and loved ones weren't surprised when Abele, as provost, vowed to improve and expand the Center for Academic Retention and Enhancement, FSU's academic program for low-income, first-generation college students.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Most of the center's students are minorities, and thanks to millions invested in the program, today nearly 71 percent of black students graduate from FSU within six years.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;When state budget woes recently forced FSU to cut back its general spending, Abele took a bigger hit on his academic side so that custodians could keep their jobs and their health benefits.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Source: [Provost&lt;/a&gt; improves FSU numbers - St. Petersburg Times](&lt;a href="http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/college/article765078.ece%5DProvost"&gt;http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/college/article765078.ece)&lt;/p&gt;