NJIT's New Provost on His Goals, Approach and Why He Pops into Classrooms

As the new provost of New Jersey Institute of Technology, John Pelesko brings decades of experience as a professor, department chair, associate dean and most recently dean at the University of Delaware, where he had spent 21 years.

Pelesko also has the benefit of knowing NJIT firsthand: he was a graduate student here in the 1990s, when he earned a Ph.D. in mathematical sciences.

The campus has changed a lot since then, of course. But the new administrator has fond memories of his days as a student and a bevy of ideas for getting reacclimated this fall.

What are your initial goals as you return to University Heights?
My major goal is to get to know the community again. I left NJIT twenty-six years ago. It has grown dramatically in that intervening period. There are still many people in the math department who were here when I was a graduate student, as most were relatively young faculty then. I’m now working to introduce myself to the rest of the campus. I’ve spent the last couple of months visiting just about every week, meeting with people and getting to know them. But I still have a lot of learning to do. So, that's my number one priority.

In what ways will you reach out to the community?
President Lim and I would like to do joint visits together to every department on campus. That includes all of the teams that report up to the president, the teams in the provost’s office and, of course, all the colleges and academic departments. I will also meet with many NJIT community members one-on-one and in small groups. I plan to spend a lot of time really getting to know people.

How do you hope to connect with students?
I've been discussing setting up a student advisory council in coordination with [Dean of Students] Marybeth Boger, as this was something that really allowed me to connect with students in my previous role as dean. We worked to ensure that the council was representative of the student body. It included students from different majors, levels and backgrounds and who took different paths in pursuing an education, such as transfer and more traditional students. I'd like to work to set up a similar council at NJIT in conjunction with Marybeth, as I think that the student life aspect of the enterprise is just as important as the academic part.

How else?
One of the most challenging aspects for being a dean or provost is that you’re not typically in the classroom anymore, and I really miss having the opportunity to interact with students daily in that way. So, the other thing that I try to do is look for any opportunity to attend events that students are having, whether they’re presenting on their research, hosting a speaker series or meeting about topics that are interesting or concerning to them.

Will you go so far as to sit in classes?
I have been known to pop into classes unannounced sometimes. But I reserve that for when I want to surprise the faculty member with good news, such as that they’ve won a university-wide award. It’s fun to do that in front of their students so they can join in the acknowledgement and celebration. I’ve also had faculty invite me to sit in on classes and I love those opportunities as well, especially something special is going on in the course. 

What did you learn as a dean that will inform your approach as provost?
You learn a lot of different things as a dean, including how to develop principles to prioritize faculty hiring and how to think about retaining your best faculty. Also, your staff professionals are a key part of the enterprise and I think I really came to appreciate that as dean and stressed the importance of supporting staff growth and development. Probably the most important thing I learned is that it’s about the people: how you treat them, how you work to ensure their success, how you work to help them realize their potential and how you create a community that they want to be part of and grow with for many years to come.

Twenty-six years later, what stays with you from your days on campus back then?
This is going to sound funny, but one of my fondest memories is playing basketball. We used to have a faculty-graduate student basketball game, and I remember playing in the gym during the summer in intense heat. I'm surprised none of us had a heat stroke! The other thing that I’ll always remember was the incredible energy that I always felt at NJIT. There were people who were working on the cutting edge of research, who were excited about it and wanted to spend time talking about it — even in the hallways! Of course, I also remember the classes, and some of them were really tough. But it’s the overall energy and camaraderie that I remember most.

Do you have a personal model or credo?
I’ve always said that my personal motto is the same as my blood type, which is B positive.