The University of Chicago is announcing new appointments to leadership roles with responsibilities in areas that support the University’s academic mission and provide oversight for key priorities.
President Robert J. Zimmer made three appointments of Vice Presidents, and Provost Daniel Diermeier announced four additional new appointments in the Office of the Provost. All of the appointments are effective July 1. They all represent new roles for individuals who are already part of the UChicago community, and who bring deep experience to important issues that come before the University.
- Darren Reisberg, Vice President and Secretary of the University since 2014, will be the Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Deputy Provost. In his new role, Reisberg will provide oversight for the operation and budget of the Office of the Provost; for several academic centers and initiatives including UChicago Urban and the Urban Education Institute; for regulatory and compliance matters under the purview of the Provost’s Office; and for faculty governance. As a Vice President, Reisberg will continue to oversee certain strategic initiatives in the President’s Office, including leadership development across the University.
- Katie Callow-Wright, currently Vice President and Chief of Staff, will succeed Darren Reisberg as Vice President and Secretary of the University. As Secretary, Callow-Wright will be the senior officer with direct responsibility for oversight and facilitation of governance practices at the University. She will work closely with President Zimmer to manage all activities related to the Board of Trustees, providing direct support and counsel to the President and the Trustees. She will help guide the support work for other boards, such as the Medical Center Board of Trustees and the Board of the Marine Biological Laboratory. The strategic coordination of governing activities involving national laboratories and the boards of other affiliates will also be a key aspect of her role. Callow-Wright’s responsibilities will include oversight for the Office of University Events and Ceremonies, and she will continue as Chief of Staff in the Office of the President.
- Bala Srinivasan, currently the Associate Provost for International and Strategic Initiatives and Senior Advisor to the President, will become Vice President for Global Initiatives and Strategy and Senior Associate Provost. This change reflects the increasing responsibility Srinivasan has assumed within the Office of the President since he joined it in July 2016, the contributions he has made and the importance of the University’s global efforts. As Vice President, Srinivasan will now also serve as an officer of the University. In the Office of the Provost, one of his key responsibilities will be to work with faculty, deans and University administration to build academic partnerships and research collaborations with international partners, create global educational opportunities and strengthen the University’s connections to foreign institutional partners, policymakers and civic leaders.
- David Nirenberg, currently Dean of the Division of Social Sciences, will become Executive Vice Provost. His responsibilities will include greater strategic, budgetary and administrative coordination, especially among the Divisions and the College. In this role, Nirenberg will work closely with the deans of the divisions and the College, and will continue to build upon cross-divisional efforts such as UChicagoGRAD. Nirenberg, the Deborah R. and Edgar D. Jannotta Distinguished Service Professor of Medieval History and Social Thought, was the founding Director of the Neubauer Collegium before becoming Dean of the Division of Social Sciences. He holds an academic appointment in the College and five academic appointments across the Social Sciences and Humanities Divisions: in the John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought, Department of History, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and Center for Jewish Studies.
- Michael Hopkins will join the Office of the Provost as Vice Provost for Strategic Planning. He will lead the area of academic space allocation, and working with other faculty and administrative leaders will be the Provost’s Office representative in space planning, innovation and environmental sustainability. Hopkins is currently Deputy Dean of the Physical Sciences Division. In that role he assists Dean Rocky Kolb with strategic planning and overseeing the division’s undergraduate and graduate education programs. He is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry, serving as chair from 2003-09.
- Bridget Le Loup Collier will serve as Associate Provost and Director of the Office for Equal Opportunity Programs. Collier has served as interim Associate Provost since Jan. 24. She joined the University in May 2015 as Dean of Students and Senior Director of Student Engagement at the Graham School, where she provided innovative and strategic leadership for a variety of programs in service to students. Collier is the founder and chair of the Chicagoland Title IX Consortium, an organization of more than 40 higher education institutions that seeks to enhance knowledge, understanding and application of Title IX policies and resources to advance gender parity and reduce sexual misconduct.
- Jason Merchant will become Vice Provost for Academic Affairs in Winter Quarter 2018, succeeding Ronald Thisted, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Professor in the Departments of Public Health Sciences, Statistics, and Anesthesia & Critical Care, and in the College, who will step down at the end of February 2018. As Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, Merchant will work with the deans and chairs on faculty appointments, promotions, recruitments, and retentions. Merchant is the Lorna Puttkammer Straus Professor in the Department of Linguistics, and in the College. He served as Deputy Dean of the Division of the Humanities from 2013-16.
—Prof. Kunle Odunsi
