Kate Willink Named Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs

Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that Kate Willink has been selected as the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and will begin this new role July 1, 2019.

An engaged and inclusive leader who has been part of the DU community for the past 12 years, Kate prides herself in connecting research-driven best practices in higher education with supporting faculty talent at all career stages. As president of Faculty Senate, she enhanced faculty development initiatives, increased faculty diversity and learning environment inclusivity, and worked toward building a strong, inclusive and collaborative faculty community. She helped author the Policies & Procedures for Faculty Development which was featured in the Chronicle of Higher Education. In addition, Kate has served on numerous committees which worked to craft and implement many current DU policies and practices around faculty work and support. For the past year, Kate has served as faculty director of the Office of Teaching & Learning. In a short amount of time, she crafted a vision built around OTL’s core strengths and launched a series of programs that show strong participation and attendance. We look forward to Kate applying many of these skills to the VPFA position.

This selection was made following a thoroughly engaged internal search, and I want to thank the faculty community for participating in such a thoughtful, intelligent manner. Your considerable response and input deeply informed our search. The discussions that occurred throughout the university reflect the passion and strength of our community. Thanks are due, as well, to the search committee—Johnny Kim (faculty co-chair), Roberto Corrada, Tayana Hardin, Jennifer Karas, Bobbie Kite, Lavita Nadkarni, Nancy Sasaki, and Ingrid Tague—for their efforts and insights during the search process.

Your continued engagement in faculty affairs will ensure the success of this new role. Please join me in welcoming Kate as Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs.

Sincerely,

Jeremy Haefner

Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor

Corinne Lengsfeld

Senior Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Education