After being at Youngtown State University more than 2 decades and working closely with faculty, the administration and students, new Provost Dr. Jennifer Pintar tells 21 News she takes the role very seriously and that student success is top priority.

"I'm very honored that the board and the committee members felt that I was the right choice for Youngstown State University," Pintar said. "I am humbled to represent all of the faculty and academic staff that represent our academic unit and looking forward to to having that voice at the table for academics," she said.

Pintar recognizes the challenges the university has faced over the years, including program cuts and faculty layoffs. She said faculty relations at an administrative level are important, as are having goals that align and maintaining a line of communication.

"We saw what happens when faculty and administration work together and work together well and we saw that with standing up the 19 new associate degree programs, the over 30 new certificate programs to help students in our region when Eastern Gateway Community College announced a closure," Pintar said. "That's the power of working together and we were all in the same goal," she said.

It's unclear if more cuts are coming to the university or not. Pintar said the focus is the students.

"I wouldn't say whether retrenchment is over or not over. That's kind of not really the point," Pintar said. "The point is that we do a full academic program review annually and what we look to do is to make sure that all of our programs are market relevant. We want to graduate students who are ready to be employed and are going to be contributing to be good citizens. So we are making sure that our programs are aligned properly," she said.