Search for Student Affairs vice chancellor announced

by Sarah R. Buchholz, Chronicle staff

Jo-Anne Vanin has said she will not be a candidate.

national search for a vice chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life is about to begin, Chancellor John V. Lombardi announced this week. Cleve Willis, dean of the College of Natural Resources and the Environment, will chair the search committee, which is still being formed.

     Jo-Anne Vanin, interim vice chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life, has chosen not to be a candidate for the position.

     "I informed the chancellor in early January that I had determined not to continue in the role and asked that he initiate a search so the position could be filled by the end of this year," she said.

     Vanin will return to her former position as dean of students once the search has been completed, she said.

     Willis said the search will be swift because of the need to have students meet with candidates.

     "We'd like to have the people we bring to campus be able to see student faces," he said. "Classes end May 14, so I am starting with May 14 and working backward [to schedule the search]. We may not get to the chancellor's selection by May 14, but we need to get the candidates to campus by then."

     An advertisement for the position will appear in the Feb. 14 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education, he said, relevant professional organizations will be contacted, and campus personnel who know of potential candidates will contact them in person.
Willis said he is happy to be chairing the search because he thinks the position is vital to the campus's progress.

     "We are seeking input from all corners of the campus in order to put together the finest team to help identify a world-class set of potential candidates," he said.

     Willis plans to send a "rather long list" of nominations for the search committee to Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost Charlena Seymour next week, he said, including nominations he receives through the Student Government Association.

     The committee will begin screening applications March 15, according to the advertisement, and Willis said the committee will likely do a careful screening of "a dozen or so" before bringing approximately four candidates to campus.

     The vice chancellor is responsible for implementing trustee policy pertaining to student life and has primary responsibility for working with student organizations on policy issues. Reporting directly to the chancellor, the vice chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life plays a major role in overall policy development and campus management. The position provides leadership and management of the Dean of Students, Admissions, Financial Aid, academic support services for students of color, the Career Center, Housing Services, Health Services, Public Safety, student activities, the New Students' Program, and the Visitors Center.

     Work on two other high-level searches has been progressing, according to Nancy Buffone, special assistant to the provost. Committees screening candidates for a vice chancellor for Research and a dean of the School of Public Health and Health Policy are both conducting preliminary interviews with prospects and hope to have candidates visiting campus by the end of March or early April, she said.