Equipped with a philosophy geared toward student preparedness, Dr. John Pearson will oversee his first semester as the university’s new provost this fall.

“John’s experience clearly shows a commitment to the same values that have allowed Point Park to thrive as a student-centered university with an eye toward innovation and community engagement,” Point Park University President Paul Hennigan said in a release.

Pearson comes from Stetson University in DeLand, Fla. where he served various roles for the past 26 years. Most recently, Pearson worked as the associate vice president of academic affairs at Stetson.

During his time at Stetson, Pearson created and curated multiple programs for the university, including an initiative designed to help students with undecided majors, as well as Stetson’s General Studies Program, which was created “to improve the performance and retention of academically at-risk students.”

The new provost pointed to Point Park’s faculty and student body as the main reasons he left Stetson University.

“I was drawn here by the philosophy,” Pearson said. “I’ve always believed that student learning should be experiential.”

Pearson expects to spend his first week of the fall semester walking around campus and observing the atmosphere.

Beyond this first week, though, Pearson and his office are looking to assess the future of Point Park.

“Do our programs provide our students the opportunity to learn all the things we want them to know and do? We have to assess that every year,” Pearson said.

“We’re poised to really take off in some areas. Part of it is, we need to chart that course. We have to actually plan and think really strategically to work on and promote our existing programs.”

Part of that will include maximizing the potential of Point Park’s newest and largest initiatives, the Center for Media Innovation (CMI) and the $74 million Pittsburgh Playhouse.

“We feel incredibly confident that these things will be successful. We need to decide what does success look like and then look at if we’re on track to meet those goals.

“I think all of Pittsburgh knows the playhouse has great potential and will sort of be the heart of downtown,” Pearson said.

The CMI, a new facility headed by school of communication professor Andrew Conte, will begin housing classes as early as the first week of the semester, but will host an official opening gala on Sep. 13. According to Pearson, the university has hopes that the facility will attract students from across the world.

“I think it has the potential to be nationally and even internationally known for journalism,” Pearson said. “Success there will be the number of people who work there and where they come from. It helps with the reputation of the university, which in turn helps the reputation of the students.”

Banking on investments such as the CMI and the Pittsburgh Playhouse will be important to the future of the university, according to Pearson, though he also points to coordinating with the faculty to craft innovative programs.

“Our job right now is to make the Point Park of the future. We need to be creating the Point Park that will exist in five years, 25 years. Universities need to be at the forefront, not following trends,” Pearson said.

“Point Park can be that school that is at the forefront, but we need to envision what that is.”

However, a potential roadblock exists as the university and its faculty continue to negotiate on the first union contract with the Communication Workers of America.

Pearson replaces the outgoing Karen McIntyre, who served in the position for the past five years. McIntyre will take a yearlong sabbatical before returning to chair the recently created Department of Innovative Learning.

Pearson will split his weekends between Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., where his husband recently found a job within the financial sector. The new provost is acclimating to life in Downtown Pittsburgh, where he resides and said friends have already promised to visit for Steelers games.