Winona State University Provost, Patricia Rogers, will be resigning at the end of the semester, as she has accepted a position as president of Lake Superior College.

An interim provost will take Rogers’ place while university officials search for a replacement.

According to Winona State President Scott Olson, the interim provost will be serving from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020. June 30 of this year is the last day Rogers will be working at Winona State.

“When somebody resigns this close to the end of the academic year, typically what you do is appoint an interim provost,” Olson said. “We don’t have time between now and July 1 to find a permanent provost to replace [Rogers]. We will appoint an interim provost who will serve next year while we are looking for a permanent provost.”

Olson said the interim provost will likely be announced before this semester’s commencement.

The process to find a permanent replacement for Rogers will begin in September of this year after Olson issues the call to form a search committee.

The search committee, which will include students, faculty and staff, will be conducting a national search to find a new provost.

“In September 2019, we will form a search committee and that search committee would begin a national search, looking for a permanent replacement,” Olson said. “They would be soliciting applications and nominations, and then they would be reviewing those.”

The search committee will later be conducting phone interviews with approximately ten applicants before narrowing the list down and interviewing two or three applicants in person.

Provost Rogers began working at Winona State in 2013 and said she has enjoyed her interactions with faculty and staff. She particularly enjoyed working alongside Student Senate to help make changes on campus.

A lesson from Winona State Rogers said she can bring with her to Lake Superior College is to keep an eye out for changes that may be occurring around campus. She said she will need to listen to her future students, as they are usually aware of changes around campus.

“A lesson I can bring with me is understanding how rapidly things are changing, and to keep an eye out for those changes,” Rogers said.

As president of Lake Superior College, Rogers said she plans to interact with the community. As provost, she mainly focused on the people inside the university.

Rogers said she loves Winona State and she won’t be completely gone. Lake Superior College is a MNSCU college, meaning she will occasionally be in touch with Olson.

Rogers said because Lake Super College is a community college, she will be working to make sure her students are easily able to eventually transfer to other MNSCU schools, such as Winona State.

Olson said he is thrilled Rogers has accepted this opportunity. Rogers is the seventh person to “graduate” from Winona State and become president of a university.

“We’re thrilled for Dr. Rogers, she has done great things for Winona State,” Olson said. “She earned this and everybody here knows she is going to do a great job at Lake Superior College.”