Though Yale students don’t seem to know what the provost does, the University still needs one, especially since Provost Peter Salovey will assume the post of Yale’s president on June 30.

In an email to the Yale faculty last week, Salovey said he intends to appoint a new provost soon to take over while he prepares to assume the presidency. He also solicited nominations for the position, specifying that his successor should be a current member of the Yale community.

The provost, as the University’s second-highest administrator, must be the president’s “key deputy” in setting “academic priorities and policy,” Salovey said, citing qualities like imagination, diplomacy, communication skills and leadership as prerequisites to the position.

Salovey said the provost must be “an outstanding scholar already at Yale who is regarded as a leader by his or her peers.”

“It would be advantageous for me to appoint the next provost as soon as possible,” Salovey said in the email, adding that he wants to spend the majority of his time this year in conversation with the Yale community about the future of the University.

The duties of the provost include overseeing academic policy and faculty committees, as well as serving as chair of the University Budget Committee.