By Sara Tirrito
Staff Writer
Several administrative changes were announced Friday by Dr. Elizabeth Davis, executive vice president and provost, including the appointment of a new vice provost for undergraduate education and a national search for a new director of the Center for International Education.
Dr. Wesley Null, associate professor of curriculum and foundations of education in the School of Education and the Honors College, was appointed as vice provost for undergraduate education.
Dr. Naymond Keathley, senior vice provost, will serve as interim director of the Center for International Education until a national search can be completed to locate a permanent director.
Tiffany Hogue, assistant provost for institutional effectiveness, is now the chief of staff to the provost.
Michelle Berry is now the director of finance and business operations for academic affairs.
“I’m really excited about putting this team together with the other vice provosts in academic leadership as we consider Baylor’s future and serving the academic part of the institution, but also the institution as a whole,” Davis said.
Null said as vice provost for undergraduate education he hopes to help further the university’s goal of creating an undergraduate program that can be emulated by other universities.
“I’m obviously deeply grateful to Provost Davis for the opportunity,” Null said. “I’m honored to have the opportunity and I’m excited to work with faculty and the senior administration to extend and support the terrific programs we have and to build new ones where appropriate.”
In taking on his new position on May 16, however, Null will be stepping down as associate dean of the Honors College, acting director of the Honors Program and director of the curriculum and teaching doctoral program in the School of Education.
Although he will miss the people in the Honors College and School of Education, Null said, he will still have opportunities to help them with planning and is looking forward to working with his new colleagues.
“The opportunity to work with them is just something that I couldn’t pass up,” Null said.
Hogue has previously worked in the College of Arts and Sciences, the provost’s office and institutional effectiveness.
That experience will help Hogue ensure the provost’s office is effectively executing all of its responsibilities, Davis said.
“As we enter this period of strategic planning and thinking about what we need to be doing as we think about Baylor’s future, Tiffany can help sort of keep her arms around all of the various activities that go on around the provost’s office and under the provost’s office purview to make sure that we’re carrying out all of our responsibilities as we serve the university,” Davis said.
Her appointment went into effect immediately.
Davis’ former position of vice provost for financial and academic administration is being replaced by Berry’s new position of director of finance and business operations for academic affairs.
Davis said having Berry take on the position will allow her to focus more fully on her role as provost, and that she hopes to see Berry continue working closely with the office of finance and administration.
“I expect her to continue the strong tradition that we’ve established in collaborating with Reagan Ramsower and [the Office of] the Vice President for Finance and Administration to be sure that we can advance academic affairs and make good resource allocation decisions so that we can achieve the objectives that we lay out in our next strategic plan,” Davis said.
In the Center for International Education, Keathley will serve as interim director until a replacement can be found for current director Michael Morrison. Morrison said he began the position in 2007 under an agreement that it would be temporary and he would someday return to work at the Baylor School of Law.
Though he has mixed emotions about leaving the position, Morrison said it is time for him to return to the classroom.
“I’ve enjoyed this work; I think it’s very important to Baylor and our students,” Morrison said. “I’m pleased to have had this opportunity, but I have always planned to retire as a law professor and after a little over five years in administration was ready to go back to teaching full time.”
A national search will be conducted in order to find a replacement for Morrison. Davis said the search is necessary in order to ensure that all potential applicants are considered.
“A national search always lets us know who might be available and interested in the positions that we have at Baylor, so we will often do national searches for positions, but not always,” Davis said. “Part of it is just being sure that we’re considering all of the options available to us, and certainly anyone at Baylor is welcome to apply for the position.”
