Dear Wayne State faculty and staff,
As we pursue continuous improvement within our university’s structure and operations to best serve students, faculty, and staff, I am sharing with you some important updates in the Division of Academic Affairs that also impact the broader university organizational structure.
Building upon feedback and consultation both within the Division of Academic Affairs, with the deans and faculty in the schools and colleges, and other university leaders, the functions and reporting lines will be realigned in the division to better support cross-team collaboration and to more effectively support the work that is done in the schools and colleges. In addition, institutional reporting will be established for those functions that serve Academic Affairs as well as other divisions. This work has been underway for the last several months and all reorganized positions will be budget-neutral, utilizing existing budgeted funds.
Student-facing units in the Division of Academic Affairs will realign into three more programmatically focused teams. First, as previously announced, Dr. Charles Cotton III joined WSU on June 3 to serve as vice provost for enrollment management. Dr. Cotton joins Wayne State after two years serving as associate vice president for enrollment management at Western Michigan University. He will assume responsibility for enrollment management, undergraduate admissions, student financial aid, and outreach and transfer initiatives.
Next, I am pleased to announce that Dr. Darryl Gardner will assume the role of vice provost for student success, support, and engagement. This new position will bring together all services that support student success, including housing and residential life, dean of students office, student auxiliary services, university advising, student disability services, and first-year experience programming, including learning communities.
Dr. Ahmad Ezzeddine assumes the role of senior vice provost for partnerships, workforce, and international initiatives. In this role, Dr. Ezzeddine will lead the College to Career initiative as well as executive and professional development, the Career Center, the English Language Institute, international programs, study abroad, and the respective support functions for undergraduate research and community and service learning.
Additionally, Dr. Boris Baltes will continue in his existing role with a title change to vice provost for faculty affairs and academic personnel. Dr. Donyale Padgett will continue to serve in her interim role, with a title change to interim vice provost for inclusive excellence. Dr. Darin Ellis will serve as vice provost for academic programs, assessment, and accreditation. In this revised portfolio, Dr. Ellis will be responsible for the registrar, testing and assessment, academic appeals, academic program review, and HLC accreditation.
Academic Affairs also welcomed Dr. Brandon Gross as assistant vice president for strategic operations and academic communications on June 3. Dr. Gross will oversee academic communications and will have a dotted reporting line from each of the school/college communicators. Dr. Gross will also coordinate strategic initiatives in the division and will have direct administrative oversight for WDET, Wayne State Press, and Health and Wellness.
Finally, Computing and Information Technology, Institutional Research (IR), and a variety of other functions tied to process improvement provide university-wide services. These units will be brought together under a repurposed vice president of enterprise planning and operational excellence, who will report to the President. This role will promote cross-cutting data-informed planning, decision support, and business process improvement in support of achievement of the Board of Governors' 'Our Moment in Time' Strategic Plan goals and objectives. With this structure, the goal is to offer best practice IR and data services, aligned infrastructure and supportive technology, and continuous improvement coordinated at the institutional level to provide accessible support for operational excellence across campus. Rob Thompson has agreed to act in this capacity while a national search is conducted.
I am confident that these strategic enhancements will contemporize our operations, strengthen academic support, and provide positive progress for our university community with closer alignment, improved communication, and more efficient structure. Updated organizational charts for University Leadership and the Division of Academic Affairs are now available. Thank you for your continued support and service to Wayne State University.
Laurie M. Lauzon Clabo, PhD, RN, FAAN
Provost & Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
