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Dear Colleagues,

As we welcome July and the beginning of a new academic cycle, allow me to offer one last announcement about leadership in the Provost and Dean of the Faculty (PDOF) Division.

Scholars Programs

OUS (Office of Undergraduate Studies)
Following a thoughtful and comprehensive external review of the OUS program, very ably undertaken by outgoing Academic Director John Palmer, I have changed the leadership model of the program. The external reviewers recommended making the faculty academic director and the administrative senior director co-directors of the program.

Thus Frank Kuan, whose administrative and interpersonal strengths the external reviewers readily recognized, has been promoted to co-director of OUS. He will partner with Mark Stern, associate professor of educational studies, who has strong connections to the program, having served on the OUS advisory board and taught in the program.

I sincerely thank John Palmer for his deep investment in the program these past four years. He led the program through a particularly difficult period. After the COVID-19 pandemic prompted ������ to close in March 2020, he pioneered the arrival of the incoming OUS cohort who were the first students back on campus. He restructured the program; and he engaged in a thoughtful self-study of OUS, including assembling a highly reflective external review team whose recommendations recognize and build upon many of the new directions John has taken the program.

David Dudrick will return to his service as the faculty director of the Alumni Memorial Scholars program, with Anne Perring having offered excellent service in the spring while David was leading the St. Andrews Study Group.

Jonathan Levine will continue his exemplary service as faculty director of the Benton Scholars program. Karen Harpp taught the Benton seminar this past year (Emerging Global Challenges); Emily Mitchell-Eaton will offer it this coming year (Migrants, Settlers, and Strangers: Human Mobility and the Making of Upstate New York). 

Our 2024–25 Sophomore Residential Seminars will be Sally Bonet’s Forced Migration and Education; Connie Harsh’s Place in the British Novel; Pete Klepeis’s What’s in Your Cup?; and Dominika Koter’s Africa in World Politics. Amy Sommers has stepped seamlessly into the role of program assistant and has been spearheading the logistics for programming and planning for these seminars.

Centers and Institutes

The Lampert Institute 
In her capacity as director of the Lampert Institute, Illan Nam has spent the past six years implementing an enhanced vision for the institute. Under Illan’s leadership, the institute focused the academic core of the institute on two of the most pressing issues of our time: the changing world order; and science, technology, and public policy. In keeping with the institute’s mission, she brought world experts on these topics to campus and, through Lampert fellowships and a research seminar, sent our students and faculty out into the world to engage deeply with these important issues. In addition to successfully transforming the institute, Illan has been a devoted teacher of the Lampert Seminar and a very valued resource to the students in it. I offer her tremendous thanks for her dedicated service. I am pleased to announce that Chad Sparber will take up the Lampert reins this fall.

Robert Kraynak and Carolyn Guile will continue to co-direct the Center for Freedom and Western Civilization, with Valerie Morkevičius stepping in to oversee the Center’s Forum on Security and Democracy. The center offered its regular robust suite of campus talks this past year, beginning with its annual Constitution Day Debate. This year’s debate, “Free Speech and Equal Protection: Where to Draw the Line?,” will be held on Sept. 12. 

Ahmet Ay will continue to serve as director of the Picker Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences (and chair of the Research Council). Throughout the past year, Ahmet has worked diligently to standardize many of our practices around internal research funding. 

Catherine Cardelús will continue her term as director of the Upstate Institute. In the months ahead, Cat, Julie Dudrick, associate director of the Upstate Institute, and Jeremy Wattles, director of the COVE, will be conducting a self-assessment of ������’s engaged learning practices as part of an application for Carnegie community engagement classification.

Provost’s Council

A few leadership updates from the academic-adjacent side of the division:

Center for Learning, Teaching, and Research
Karyn Belanger and Jeff Nugent have completed a very successful first year as co-directors of the CLTR. This coming year, there will be two faculty affiliates of the CLTR: Carrie Keating, this year’s winner of the Jerome Balmuth Award for Teaching, and Elodie Fourquet, who has agreed to serve as the Arnold A. Sio Chair in Diversity and Community. I have asked Carrie to offer programming about teaching and Elodie to continue some of the very good work on DEI (broadly understood) in the classroom that APED Ani Maitra and Danny Barreto (in his role as New York 6 Mellon Academic Fellow) began this past year.

Chapel House
I am very pleased to report that Georgia Frank will serve as director of Chapel House this year following Steve Kepnes’ retirement in June. During his tenure as director, Steve was an exceptionally good steward of Chapel House. He worked diligently to make it more inviting to a broader swath of people (especially students); he updated the building to make it more accessible and in doing so strengthened its connection with its natural setting; and he developed a vision for the outdoor space around the house that included the creation of a Japanese garden. If you are unfamiliar with this ������ gem, I strongly recommend a visit. 

Off-Campus Study and International Programs
After years of being perilously understaffed, the Office of Off-Campus Study is now operating at almost full capacity. Joanna Holvey Bowles continues her excellent service as director and I am pleased to announce that Cas Sowa was recently promoted to senior associate director. Mary Hydar joined the OCS team as a program manager this past year.

I am grateful to Danny Barreto for his willingness to transform himself on very little notice from a Mellon Fellow/special projects assistant to the provost and dean of the faculty to interim associate dean of global and local initiatives this past semester while April Baptiste was on leave. Danny was a wonderful addition to the PDOF suite and a very effective ADOF, readily picking up both the day-to-day aspects of the role and the larger picture questions. 

Sustainability (and Equity and Diversity)
With DEI and sustainability being two significant dimensions of our Third-Century thinking, each having a guiding plan for the University, we have promoted John Pumilio to associate provost of sustainability. 

This new title is now more analogous to the associate provost for equity and diversity (APED), which Carolyn Hsu has taken on following Ani Maitra’s cycling out of the position. Deep thanks to Ani for his reflective, measured, and diplomatic service, which was always inflected with his signature kindness, generosity, and gentle humor.

University Libraries
Following a trial reorganization of the libraries’ administration last year, we have solidified a new leadership structure. Courtney Young will continue to serve as University librarian. Joshua Finnell, who inaugurated a new role as director of research and scholarly initiatives last year, will continue that work while also becoming associate University librarian.

Writing and Speaking Center 
I am pleased to announce that Stacy Kastner, recently arrived from the University of Pennsylvania where she served as the director of The Marks Family Writing Center, is the new director of ������’s Writing and Speaking Center. I am grateful to Suzanne b. Spring for being willing to serve as interim in that capacity while we conducted a search for a new director following Jenn Lutman’s appointment as director of University Writing.

New Locations

Lastly, while this is not a leadership update, it seems worth including in this message a few physical relocations in the division. Beginning July 1, the Office of University Grants and Sponsored Research and the Office of Institutional Analysis will be located in McGregory B1-B4. I am excited to have the grants team up on the quad (welcome, Laura Festine and Erin Childers-Loranty) and to have Associate Director of Institutional Research Karen Cheal at last be in an office with (an outside-facing) window. Both teams will welcome new members in the coming months, rounding out the office suite. 

Once Bernstein Hall is completed, the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (E&I) will move there this summer from its current location in Benton Hall. E&I team members Carolyn Strobel-Larsen and Christian Vischi have already been working closely with colleagues in Film and Media Studies and Computer Science (CS) on programming within our Arts, Creativity, and Innovation Initiative (ACI); I look forward to seeing what new ideas emerge when they are all co-located in Bernstein. ADOF Christian DuComb will pick up the ACI coordination reins now that Lynn Schwarzer has finished her remarkable turn as AHUM Division Director. Also in the ACI sphere, Lesley Chapman has been promoted to visual arts resources and programming manager. Once our CS colleagues have moved down to Bernstein, we will welcome the Department of Educational Studies to McGregory Hall: they will be moving up to the third floor from their offices in Persson Hall.

I have likely missed someone or something: a lot has happened in the PDOF division this year. If it was you/your office, please let me know and I will be sure to rectify the omission in a future message. For the time being, however, I will endeavor to leave you to your research (and hopefully some recharging and resetting) for the duration of the summer.

I trust you know that doesn’t mean you need to do the same: If you need anything from me or the office, please do not hesitate to reach out. 

My best,
Lesleigh

Provost and Dean of the Faculty 
Mark S. Siegel University Professor in Religion and Jewish Studies* 

*Another new thing for the new fiscal year. For those interested, .