To the University Community:
Following the announcement of a reorganization in the Provost’s Office in my first community message last week, I am thrilled to announce the search for Vice Provost for Faculty and Staff Affairs and Development.
The addition of this position is a return to the longstanding balance of three vice provost positions to proportionally manage needs across our academic constituencies of faculty, staff, and students in a manner that we believe is necessary to serve the interests of everyone in our community most effectively. With three vice provosts, we still remain at a staffing level lower than most of our peers. Relatedly, we are able to make this hire and enact our entire reorganization without an increase in our existing budget, which includes proportional cuts consistent with that experienced by other units at UConn over the past few years. This is possible in part because of our efforts to streamline administrative support costs in our office. In my conversations with several members of the Senate Executive Committee and Union leadership, they indicated it was important that I reiterate and further clarify this point and I am pleased to do so here.
In resuming a structure of three vice provosts, we’re able to focus those positions in three crucial areas: 1) supporting student success; 2) advancing, identifying, and developing strategic and interdisciplinary efforts across the University; and 3) supporting the development of our people in the academic mission across staff and faculty.
I can’t say clearly enough how much I believe in the importance of this role for enhancing the academic support provided to our faculty and staff across all ranks and designations. In a close partnership with the Office of Human Resources (OHR), the Vice Provost for Faculty and Staff Affairs and Development will focus on a range of domains including mentorship, career progression, dispute resolution, and awards/recognition for accomplishments – essentially anything anyone across the full range of academic roles would need to be successful and feel accomplished throughout their career at UConn. In addition to the people-facing aspects of the role, this position includes collaboration with OHR and other key University units in the review of existing policies and practices to ensure they are equitable, as well as the development of new policies and procedures that help ensure we are supporting each of our people in their activities at UConn. Additionally, the role of this vice provost will be closely aligned with that of our incoming Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer and multiple other offices including Institutional Equity to ensure we are infusing these principles into all aspects of this work.
I have appointed a search committee in our pursuit of an outstanding leader who will provide executive direction and strategic vision for this exciting new role. The advisory search committee will be chaired by Kent Holsinger, Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Dean of The Graduate School. The members of the committee are:
Preston Britner
Professor of Human Development and Family Sciences
Sarah Croucher
Director of Academic Policy, Office of the Provost
Christopher Delello
Chief Human Resources Officer, UConn and UConn Health
Kent Holsinger (Chair)
Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Dean of the Graduate School
Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Gladis Kersaint
Dean of the Neag School of Education
Professor of Mathematics Education
Jacqueline Nissen
Associate Dean for Medical Education
Professor of Medicine and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs
Angela Rola
Director of the Asian American Cultural Center
Daniel Mercier
Director of Academic Services, UConn Avery Point
John Volin
Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
Professor of Natural Resources and the Environment
Juli Wade
Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Professor of Psychological Sciences
Guiling Wang
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Rachel Wice (Search Staffer)
Academic Finance and Administrative Assistant, Office of the Provost
Candidates should have a comprehensive resume of success in academic leadership roles and demonstrate exceptional skills that will enable them to support the growing workforce and development needs of the University. The successful candidate for this position will be a full professor at the University with an appreciation for the breadth of our units and disciplines, a strong ethical sense, deep commitment to diversity and inclusion, good judgement, and the ability to work as part of a team to efficiently manage a complex, matrixed portfolio.
If you would like to discuss the position or nominate a candidate, please contact the Search Chair, Kent Holsinger (kent.holsinger@uconn.edu), and the Search Staffer, Rachel Wice (rachel.wice@uconn.edu), to coordinate outreach from the search committee.
Additional information about the position and updates on the interview process will be available on the Provost’s website (https://provost.uconn.edu/administrators-and-leadership/academic-leader-searches/).
Qualified internal candidates may apply via this application link through June 22: https://secure.dc4.pageuppeople.com/apply/967/gateway/Default.aspx?c=apply&sJobIDs=494606&SourceTypeID=796&sLanguage=en-us
Application review will commence immediately and we anticipate the new vice provost will start in mid-August for the start of the fall semester. The early phases of the process are confidential. Upon selection of finalists, each finalist will deliver a public presentation to the University Community and meet with various relevant groups at UConn. We welcome your participation in this process. Schedules of the visits and opportunities for you to participate and provide feedback will be announced later this summer.
Sincerely,
Carl
Carl Lejuez
Provost & Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
For more information, contact: Rachel Wice at rachel.wice@uconn.edu