With another school year at its end, EWU is preparing for another change in administration.

President Cullinan has named Mary Ann Keogh Hoss as interim provost, following the departure of current provost, Rex Fuller.

Keogh Hoss is the director of health services administration for the College of Health Science and Public Health, which she helped create. Since her beginnings in healthcare in 1968, Keogh Hoss has worked in management positions from interim dean of Eastern’s college of health science to interim CEO of Western State Hospital in Ft. Steilacuum, Washington.

Although Keogh Hoss is based in Spokane at the Riverpoint campus, she said she wants to continue the efforts she has already seen on campus to connect Riverpoint students with the main Cheney campus.

She said she’s also looking forward to becoming familiar with the Cheney campus herself.

Out in Cheney, Provost Rex Fuller is preparing to move to Western Oregon University (WOU) at its president alongside an inaugural board of trustees.

Fuller said, that considering Oregon just changed their higher education system, it will be important for him and the new board to focus on advocacy for WOU.

“The downside to a system [like that of Washington’s] are smaller universities can get their voices muffled,” he said. He wants to bring his knowledge from working in both kinds of education systems to his new job.

Fuller’s foray into the presidential field is not new. In 2014, he applied to become EWU’s 26th president.

Aspirations for a university presidency falls along the boundaries of what Fuller says is “inside and outside work.” As a provost, he works mainly with the administration. A university president gets to work outside of the campus and with the surrounding communities.

“I want to enjoy the external aspects of the job,” Fuller said.

Keogh Hoss will assume Fuller’s former position on June 15.

Vice Provost Linda Kieffer said that when a new person steps on board, there will be change, but change is not bad.

When the university finds a new permanent provost, Kieffer said, “[they] will take us in a direction we were meant to go.”

The direction Fuller said he wants staff and faculty at EWU to remember is continuing to focus on student success and making academic affairs a priority.

“Academic programs need to be strong and vibrant. Without it, student interest wains. I hope it continues to … develop and strengthen,” he said.