May 17, 2023
Greetings Colleagues,
Congratulations on the close of another amazing academic year! Last week, we graduated 888 Titans who will go out into our community, state, nation, and world to make a difference. More than one in three of these students were the first in their family to graduate from college.
Not only should we be celebrating the successes of our students, but also the hard work we have been doing on financial sustainability. The Academic Organization Design Task Force completed its work this spring, and last week I issued a decision regarding our new academic schools and colleges structure, effective Fall 2024.
In the meantime, I am grateful to those who will be stepping into interim leadership roles. Dr. Bhavik Pathak has agreed to serve as the Interim Dean of the Leighton School for the 2023-24 academic year. Dr. Doug McMillen has agreed to serve as the Interim Dean of CLAS and Acting Dean of the Raclin School for the 2023-24 academic year, and Dr. Tami Martinez has agreed to stay in her full-time appointment as Assistant Dean managing the day-to-day operations of the Raclin School. While Dr. McMillen is serving CLAS and Raclin, Dr. Linda Chen has graciously agreed to serve as Interim Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs for the 2023-24 academic year.
Thanks also goes to Brenda Phillips, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Acting Dean of the Raclin School, and Tracey Anderson, Interim Dean of the Leighton School, who are both retiring at the end of this school year.
In other leadership news, I am pleased to announce that Kory Vitangeli will be our next vice chancellor for student engagement. Kory will be joining us from Indianapolis and begins her role on June 20, 2023. I know that she is very eager to meet you all and to support our students. Many thanks to all who engaged in our vice chancellor search this spring.
Progress has also been made on other major initiatives. A new Academic Master Plan is in the works with further conversation and finalization in the Fall. A draft plan for creating a centralized advising model and physical center is also near completion which will help us streamline and improve how we serve students. Also, great progress has been made this semester on beginning work on the programs in our Strengthening Institutions Program grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
I hope you all have plans to take some time to rest and relax this summer, whether it be taking vacation time with family and friends or just slowing the pace to rejuvenate.