“Do you have any idea what a provost even does?” 

That’s how Darrell Newton opened his speech at Shippensburg University’s 2024 Convocation. 

For over 30 years, he has been on a mission to find out. 

Appointed in late April as SU’s next Provost, Newton came to Shippensburg in early July from Winona State University in Minnesota. Originally from Northern California, Newton has worked in various pockets of the country but spent the bulk of his life throughout the Midwest — he completed high school and college in Wisconsin and went on to teach for over 15 years across the state. 

As he bounced between states, he was also climbing the ranks of academia. 

“I spent like 30 years in the classroom before making the move to academic administration. So when making the move from assistant professor to associate to full professor to associate dean, department chair, all those sorts of ranking, I wanted to become a dean,” Newton said. 

From Associate Dean at Salisbury University to Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs at the University of Wisconsin EuClaire to now Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Shippensburg University, Newton has continued to live by one of his educational philosophies — there is no finish line. 

In one of his first major appearances on campus this summer, Newton spoke on the importance of persistence in education — and life — to this summer’s Academic Success Program (ASP) students. 

“When I consider the fact that there is no finish line, I mean that to say that education is an ongoing process,” Newton said. “There’s always something new to learn. No matter who you are, how old you are, where you live and what you’re about, there’s always something more.” 

One “something more” that Newton is tackling as he begins his first academic year as provost is what SU’s future may be in an era of declining enrollment and restricted budgets. 

“We simply don’t have the enrollment here, as most schools don’t, that we once had. And with that loss of enrollment is a loss of income and loss of revenue that can be used to support the students,” Newton said. “That kind of stuff is lost, and we have to find ways to hold on to what we have or recoup some of those losses.” 

In the spring 2020 semester, SU’s enrollment was 4,863 undergraduates, and dropped to 4,443 by fall 2022. 

Newton looks at Gov. Josh Shapiro’s reforms to higher education in Pennsylvania as an impetus for SU to look at its educational model and how the institution can better meet the needs of a diverse student body. 

“We really, really need to think outside the box when it comes to the educational model,” Newton said. “More online classes would be a wonderful thing for us to do. It wouldn’t require faculty teach online if they don’t want to, but there are a lot of faculty who would be glad to if they could.” 

Newton also emphasized the need to tap into non-traditional returning students who may have attended some college but were unable to finish their degree. 

With his decades of classroom experience — mainly in the communications and media field — advocacy for the autonomy of faculty is another of Newton’s goals. “They should be allowed to teach their classes in the manner that they choose to and organize the classes in a way that’s best for their students, and that could differ from one faculty member to the next,” Newton said. “They should have that right.” 

“Often, I think there’s a preponderance of us being painted as the dark side, as the bad guys, as ‘ooh administration, scary Boogeyman.’ But no,” Newton said. “Most of us come from the classroom, and I mean all my years in the classroom, there’s no way I could forget my roots and forget my service to students and to my colleagues and to my departments. 

As he reflected on those 30 years in the classroom, Newton remains passionate about putting in the work for students and hopes that faculty always remember where most administrators have their roots. 

“We too served as faculty at one time, and because of that our enthusiasm, our zeitgeist, our zeal for what education is really about has not lost us,” Newton said. “All of this administration, Old Main – any administrative building anywhere on any campus [in the] USA means nothing without students and faculty.” 

Those who enter administration without classroom experience, Newton said, “never quite have the sort of vision that some of us do”— “You have to walk the walk.”  

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