Public Forums Planned March 7 for Preferred Candidate in Provost Search

Following the assessment of internal candidates for the position of senior vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost by a 14-member search advisory committee, Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy is advancing as the preferred candidate Tricia Serio. She currently serves as dean of the College of Natural Sciences and as associate chancellor for strategic academic planning.

As the next step in the search process, Dean Serio will meet with a series of campus stakeholders on Monday, March 7. Two public forums for members of our community will be included in her interview schedule:

• Faculty and Staff Forum: 1:30-2:30 p.m., Amherst Room, 10th floor, Campus Center
• Student Forum: 3:45-4:30 p.m., Amherst Room, 10th floor, Campus Center

In charging the advisory committee, the chancellor observed that the position of provost is perhaps the most demanding and complex leadership position on the campus and that he is seeking a skilled individual with extensive experience leading large, multifaceted academic organizations. The committee is chaired by Brandi Hephner LaBanc, vice chancellor for student affairs and campus life.

The provost is the chief academic officer for UMass Amherst. The provost’s overarching responsibility is to advance the academic mission of the university in the areas of discovery, learning and service. The provost works closely with the deans of the schools and colleges, department heads and chairs, and other senior leadership to provide undergraduate and graduate educational programs of the highest quality. Other key priorities of the provost include recruiting, retaining and supporting an outstanding and diverse faculty, and supporting the faculty’s efforts to advance knowledge, engage in creative activity, and serve the Commonwealth, the nation and the world. 

Dean Serio joined UMass as dean of the College of Natural Sciences in August 2017 after serving as professor and head of the department of molecular and cellular biology at the University of Arizona. Her professional honors include the 2016 Mid-career Award for Excellence in Research from the American Society for Cell Biology, the Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences for 2003-07 and the National Cancer Institute’s Howard Temin Award for 2001-06. In 2022, she was selected to be a fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the pre-eminent scientific institution in the United States. She earned a B.S. in molecular biology from Lehigh University and an M.Phil. and Ph.D. in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale. She was a postdoctoral fellow in molecular genetics and cell biology at the University of Chicago.