Calvin has started to form a committee that will search for a new provost to replace Claudia Beversluis, who completes her term next June.

The provost is the highest-ranking academic officer at the college and oversees all the faculty, classes and research at Calvin. Beversluis has served as provost since 2006 and had been a psychology professor since 1990.

“Please pray for the formation of the search committee and for our collective work as we begin moving forward in our search for a new provost,” wrote President Michael Le Roy in an announcement to faculty and staff.

Le Roy and speech pathology’s Judy Vander Woude will chair the committee of elected faculty representatives, two deans, two cabinet members, one additional faculty member and one academic staff member.

No students will be included on the committee.

Vander Woude has been pivotal in developing the school’s popular speech pathology five-year master’s program, one of only two such programs at Calvin.

The nominee will need to be approved by the college’s Board of Trustees as well as the Christian Reformed Church’s synod, which is a process similar to the presidential search.

This will be the third major cabinet-level change since Le Roy came to Calvin last year, following the appointment of Todd Hubers from human resources and Sally VanderPloeg as vice president of finance.

Beversluis’s term was extended for one extra year after the departure of Henry DeVries, previously vice president of finance, last year.

“I would again like to thank Claudia for her leadership as provost and all the work she is doing to ensure a smooth transition following this academic year,” said Le Roy.

Groups of faculty and staff will begin to define critical requirements for the position, and committee members are expected to be named in the near future.