April 13, 2006
Two new positions created to better integrate services to undergrads
Provost Phyllis Wise has announced a plan to integrate better those units that serve undergraduates.
Two new positions, vice provost for student life and vice provost and dean of undergraduate academic affairs, are being created to develop better ways of integrating “living and learning,” according to Executive Vice Provost Ana Mari Cauce. Both units will report to Cauce, so that their policies and services will be closely coordinated.
“The University of Washington is ahead of the curve in many ways in serving the needs of undergraduates,” she says. “People from around the country are calling and visiting us to learn more about the Center for Learning and Undergraduate Enrichment (CLUE), Freshman Interest Groups (FIGs), our Teaching Academy and our Faculty Fellows program. In many ways, we are a model institution.
“But we know that a great deal of learning takes place outside of the classroom, in areas that we’d broadly describe as student life. These changes will enable us to work together to greatly enhance the undergraduate experience.”
Along with the new organization will come a joint advisory board composed of students, faculty and staff, which will examine some of the details of this integrated approach. “For example,” says Cauce, “we might look at whether Advising and Career Services should be in the same office, or whether there would be benefits from combining Room Assignments with Classroom Support Services.”
Cauce says that a year from now, there will still be two distinct organizations, with perhaps some of the pieces merged or moved. “We have two excellent units,” she says, “and we expect that they will find creative ways of blending their talents for the benefit of undergraduates.”
Provost Wise also has announced that the university will conduct internal searches for both the vice provost and dean of undergraduate academic affairs, and for the vice provost for student life. “I believe we will be best served by having those positions filled by individuals who are deeply familiar with UW campus life, and we have no shortage of talent on our campus,” she said.
