FGCU provost a finalist for Colorado post

After three years in an instrumental role of building up Florida's smallest and newest college, he's now aiming for the next step: president of a small, liberal arts college.

Bartel, 53, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at 6-year-old Florida Gulf Coast University in Estero, is one of three finalists for the presidency of Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo.

After a two-day round of interviews with campus officials late last month, Bartel is awaiting the final decision from the Fort Lewis Board of Trustees.

Meanwhile, word of his candidacy is making the rounds at FGCU.

"It's not a secret. We've known about this," university spokeswoman Susan Evans said Friday. "Dr. Bartel is certainly continuing to do an outstanding job at FGCU. He's interested in the Fort Lewis position because the presidency is the next logical step in terms of advancement on his career path. We're waiting to see how that search progresses."

Bartel was out of town Friday and couldn't be reached for comment.

He joined FGCU in July 2000 for $145,000 annually. The Fort Lewis salary, if he's selected, will be determined during contract negotiations.

It was the pioneering spirit at FGCU that brought Bartel to Southwest Florida. He previously was dean of graduate programs at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

He held various administrative roles and was a faculty member in the Department of Anthropology at San Diego State University from 1975-91. Bartel has been an advocate of liberal arts education and told his interviewers at Fort Lewis he loved the idea of a public liberal-arts college.

"There are only about 20 in the United States doing their job properly, and this is one of them," he said during his interviews.

Bartel told college officials he was confident he could take Fort Lewis to a higher level by building relationships and tapping resources that will reinforce the college's mission to provide a liberal-arts education to undergraduates.

He impressed campus officials with what one administrator called a friendly demeanor and self-confidence without arrogance.

"I think he is right on target with what our needs are," said Margaret Landrum, outreach librarian.

Bartel holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Missouri and a bachelor's degree in anthropology from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.

Durango and Fort Lewis College, which has the slogan "Colorado's Campus in the Sky," are in southwest Colorado cradled in the southern foot of the Rocky Mountains, about 382 miles from Denver. Durango's population is about 14,500.

The college offers 25 baccalaureate degrees, about 10 fewer than FGCU. Its student population is 4,500, compared with FGCU's 6,000.

The other two finalists for the president's position are Joseph Burke, president of Keuka College in Keuka, N.Y., and Elaine Maimon, provost at Arizona State University West in Phoenix and vice president at ASU.