Alcorn State University’s academic deans will be required to reapply and compete with new applicants to retain their jobs, the school’s president said Monday.

“We were concerned that we did not have the right people in those jobs,” Dr. M. Christopher Brown said. Sitting deans were “recommended and encouraged” to apply, and faculty members will have a say in the decision, he said.

Alcorn has not reposted and re-evaluated the positions in many years, Brown said.

The process, which officially began June 29 when the jobs were listed on the school’s employment opportunities website, follows a similar application and appointment of ASU vice presidents in 2011, said Brown.

In that process, two sitting vice presidents were reappointed, one retired and his deputy was promoted, and one voluntarily relinquished his job to return to teaching. Brown also created one new vice president’s position.

The process was well-received on campus, he said.

“What is important is that the campus is 100 percent sure that each of the vice presidents that serve here were not anointed by the president, they were appointed after a public search in which they competed with others,” said Brown.

Brown took over the presidency of ASU in January 2011. He said the school faced two critical issues with regard to administrative and leadership positions, one being “a history of lifetime appointments,” and the other contracts that did not differentiate the salary earned from faculty duties and that for administrative duties.

With a vice president returning to teaching duties, untangling his former “lump sum” salary to align it with his new duties was a lengthy and difficult process, said Brown.

During the 2011-12 school year Brown held meetings with ASU faculty and sitting deans, informing them about this year’s search, reappointment process and timetable, emphasizing he is not looking for “change just for the sake of change.”

“I told the faculty, I think it would be dreadful to have all new deans at one time. I’ve not had any dissent,” even though his decision could have provoked “a lot of angst,” he said. “I think that’s because it’s been so very public and transparent, and because we have clearly articulated what we are doing.”

ASU has posted six dean openings, in the schools of business; agriculture and applied science; education and psychology; nursing; and arts and sciences; and the department of libraries and information resources. It was not clear if the dean of the school of graduate studies, which does not appear on the list, would also be posted.

Brown said the positions have been opened to applicants nationwide. In the fall, each academic area will select faculty representatives to serve on screening committees to review applications, check references and obtain any necessary supplemental information. Semi-finalists will then be evaluated, have background checks made and meet with students, faculty and staff.

The new deans will be named later in the year.