By Jake Beck
Guest Writer
After a competitive nationwide search, Saint Martin’s University is fortunate to welcome Dr. Javier Clavere as its new Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs. Dr. Clavere is coming from the University of the Incarnate Word, a Catholic institution in San Antonio, Texas, where he served as the Dean of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. He brings an exceptionally diverse academic portfolio to Saint Martin’s. Dr. Clavere has degrees or credentials in musical arts, artificial intelligence for leaders, financial planning training, and web development and e-business programming. He is also well-versed in semiotics (the study of how we construct meaning through symbols) as evidenced by his service as executive director of the Semiotic Society of America for almost a decade. Dr. Clavere is truly a polymath and brings a keen focus on the liberal arts tradition.
Dr. Clavere’s recent academic endeavors focus on governance of artificial intelligence and the ethics involved in this new technology. The twist in how he wants to approach AI is through the framework of Benedictine Values, which he claims are perfectly suited to the task of AI ethics. Specifically, he thinks Benedictine virtues create a much better foundation for careful ethical decisions to implement AI and monitor its use than any ethics model that has previously been tried.
This AI ethics approach is not only a focus for Dr. Clavere, he hopes it will become SMU’s institutional focus. As he ambitiously states: “We hope to be in the forefront of AI ethics and governance in the next few years.” The technology of AI and its use have been ever-growing in the past few years and will continue to affect our education and future generations of students and educators.
With the new Provost leading the institution, you can expect advancements in how the University safely, ethically, and responsibly uses AI through the guidance of the Benedictine virtues.
The New Provost’s ethics are also reflected in his approach to leadership on our campus. Dr. Clavere is from Rosario, Argentina, and one thing that he loves about his country is the value that people put on relationships. Coming from a larger University, he appreciates the ability to build relationships with staff and faculty to work together to support students and to generally help others succeed and flourish as humans. This ability to create real relationships and support people also aligns with his leadership statement of “Virtus ad Bonum Commune,” virtue for the common good. It is an ethic that is people-centered and seeks to spur encouragement in others and care about their well-being. The Provost even says his job description is “helping people succeed” and that that is what he is here for: to build up others so that they may be excellent and continue to pay it forward and help one another, a kind of virtue ethics of his own.
The semiotic expert, AI ethicist, and humanitarian is also an exceptional pianist who has been playing since age 4 and has practiced 6 hours a day for most of his childhood. Dr. Clavere’s favorite piece that he has ever performed is the technically demanding Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.3. Although he mainly plays classical music on the piano, Dr. Clavere is very fond of Latin Jazz, rock, and other kinds of music. If Dr. Clavere could choose to be any dessert in the world, it would be an authentic flan with cream, as that is a part of what he grew up with and hits close to home. To conclude, St. Martin’s is very fortunate to welcome an authentic leader who is willing and able to help students, faculty and staff flourish.
