Dear Colleagues,
As the provost’s office gets ready to welcome Dr. Jen Drake, I want to take this opportunity to recognize, thank, and shine a spotlight over my fabulous colleagues who welcomed me, guided me, and exhibited the highest level of professionalism, expertise, and noble human qualities. They each bring in unique skills and assets, and as a group, they have been the most collaborative, collegial, and goal-oriented team one can hope for. They have been my circle of trust and I wish I could present them that way; but the medium imposes a linearity to this presentation, so I will use alphabetical order:
Ed Aboufadel, Senior Associate Vice President. Ed has been and continues to be a key leader in the provost office and beyond. His institutional knowledge, unshakable even temper and good disposition, his genuine interest in and friendliness to everyone, and his ability to motivate others around him and get things done are some of the many reasons that compelled me to promote him to Senior AVP Last year. He has been a reliable and thoughtful partner in every important project or decision. Ed is equally comfortable with the strategic big thinking, as he is with the minute details of execution. He is equally skilled with the rational (he is a math professor after all) as he is with the emotional and motivational (he ran competitively for school board). Ed continues to be an invaluable source for insight about faculty needs and what we can do to support them. He has been instrumental in the success of critical projects and complex initiatives. He co-led the Blue Dot project bringing in the needed expertise from many colleagues and balancing between different interests. He co-led the taskforce to review and revise the GVSU grievance process. Most recently, he co-led the OMNI taskforce. On each of these projects, he delivered with method, cool-headedness, and a smile. He is such a tremendous asset to the provost office and the university that we forgive him for his occasional Spartan ties. He is also a fellow runner even though he goes for speed, while I go for distance.
Mary Albrecht, Assistant Vice President for Operations, Communication, and Strategic Initiatives. Every provost’s office needs a Mary Albrecht if they can find her! Anyone who interacts with Mary directly or indirectly can attest to the superior quality of her work, the enthusiasm with which she embraces new initiatives and opportunities to learn something new, and her uncompromising attention to the quality of interaction and respect to all, students, staff, faculty, and external partners. She is the best ambassador for the culture and values of Academic Affairs and GVSU. In the provost office, Mary is our system thinker always observing, thinking, innovating, and strategizing. On almost any complex decision we have, if Mary is not already in the room, someone would invariably suggest we call her in and hear her thoughts. Mary has a full portfolio, yet welcomed and embraced every new initiative we undertook. She took on the Lakers Ready newsletter and made it into a highly read weekly production. She enthusiastically embraced the GVSU Quest Series and made it into another signature event. This year, she ran the three dean searches and the AWRI executive search ensuring we had excellent hires and outstanding experiences by all of our candidates, faculty, and staff. With Mary, every value becomes esthetics, fully weaved into our daily work, and proudly presented to the world.
Bonnie Bowen, Associate Vice President for Budget and Resource Management. I am not sure where to start with Bonnie, with her intellect, her work ethic, or her positive energy, all of which are off the chart. Bonnie holds the key to some of the most consequential decisions we make, resource allocation. I am constantly impressed by the breadth and depth of her knowledge and by her insatiable intellectual curiosity. Every decision she makes is grounded in data and numbers from multiple sources while also being very thoughtful of all human aspects and implications. For every decision we make together, Bonnie takes on additional time to double check and cross reference multiple sources, listen to many viewpoints, and further educate herself about some of the most minute nuances before making the decision final. Bonnie’s good disposition and contagious laugh are an expression of her sense of fairness and perspective. They also come in handy for her position; she is able to say no to many people so often and have them walk out from her office with a smile confident that Bonnie made the best decision for the institution.
Cathy Buyarski, Vice Provost for Advising and Student Success. I cannot think of a better person to lead Advising and Student Success for us than Cathy. She comes with extensive expertise in the domain, deep knowledge of the research literature, and first-hand experience with best practices around the country. Cathy, with her deep convictions, boundless energy, and heartfelt enthusiasm for our current and potential impact, is a source of inspiration and energy for all of us in the office. Her no nonsense approach, and her subtle sense of humor make her an amazing team member and beloved colleague in the provost office. The transformational impact that Cathy brought in one year has surpassed all our expectations. We are only beginning to see the tip of the impact of her work within academic affairs and across divisions. I look forward to seeing the full and continued impact of Cathy’s work.
Sean Lancaster, Associate Vice President for Assessment, Accreditation, and Planning. If there is one intellectual quality required to be effective in the provost office, it would be to be a renaissance person; to have the interest, curiosity, and passion to explore and learn about all the disciplines that a comprehensive university like GVSU offers all while maintaining the humility to always defer to the experts. I have been most impressed by how much Sean embodies this polymath quality. He reads, reviews, and contributes to every self-study and every accreditation document. Nothing that Sean does is superficial. He truly immerses himself in the material and enjoys learning about and appreciating the work that our colleagues do. Sean is another thoughtful and caring member in the provost office. In addition to his portfolio, I asked Sean to coordinate the initiative led by CECI colleagues to offer a program at the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility. His leadership, tact, and effectiveness have been a real pleasure to watch. I must also thank Sean for his editorial work on the Laker to Laker segment of Lakers Ready. I often write these Sunday late afternoon and send for last minute feedback. Sean has been my most faithful close reader editor, no matter how late I send.
Aaron Lowen, Associate Vice President for Data Analytics. This is the one position I added to the provost office and have been extremely pleased to see how well Aaron took on this role and how much everyone in Academic Affairs has taken advantage of this additional expertise and resource to complement almost every process and every project we have undertaken. Aaron’s effectiveness, expertise, and respect have been exemplary of the quality of service we want everyone to expect from the provost office. He combines technical expertise, and leadership skills that allow him to work very effectively with everyone within Academic Affairs and across divisions. Aaron has also been our representative, co-lead, and lead in all projects related to building the data infrastructure at GVSU. He is co-leading with Jesse Bernal the adoption and implementation of the Grey DI platform and is participating in all decisions related to building the university data Lakehouse and the upcoming dashboards.
Christine Rener, Vice Provost for Instructional Development and Innovation, and known by all our faculty as the director of FTLC, one of the most directly impactful offices on campus. Nationally, she is known as the president of the National Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education (POD Network), the network that supports over 1,300 centers for teaching and learning. The impact of Christine on the teaching and learning culture of GVSU cannot possibly be overstated; it is remarked on by many external visitors. Somehow the best way for me to describe Christine is through a vignette. When I went to her office earlier this month to share the news of my decision, she quickly processed her own emotion, then turned her whole presence and attention to me. We sat comfortable in silence; then she offered me a book, How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen; then we talked about our mutual professional generativity, how we conceive of it, and how we manage it. That’s Christine. Perceptive. Kind. Wise and Generous. These are the qualities that make her an excellent colleague and an outstanding FTLC director.
Robert Smart, Vice Provost for Research Administration and Executive Director, Center for Scholarly and Creative Excellence. Bob is another admirable servant leader. He combines an unassuming presence, and a positive collaborative stand with a visionary and a highly principled stand on all consequential decisions and practices. Bob holds a large and diverse portfolio in part because whoever worked with or reported to him has such a positive experience that they explicitly request not to change. I am confident that Bob is the only person at GVSU or other universities whose excellent work compelled his colleagues to submit requests for public comments to a Board of Trustees meeting just to tell them how exceptional he is and to plead for the search for his successor to seek the same qualities he exhibits.
Felix Ngassa, Assistant Vice President for Curriculum, International education, and scholarship. As previously announced, Felix will start next week. While I will not get the pleasure to work with Felix in this capacity, I have closely collaborated with him these past two years and got to appreciate his passion for higher education, his deep understanding for shared governance, and his leadership qualities. Felix has been a respected colleague and a valued friend. Felix comes into this position with additional areas of expertise and passion, notably international education and scholarship, and equity and inclusion. I look forward to seeing his contributions to GVSU’s international collaborations and exchanges of students, scholars, and ideas. With his extensive experience in shared governance and passion about equity and inclusion, he will be an important asset on issues of equity in hiring, promotion, and tenure.
Last but not least, I want to express my deep appreciation and gratitude to all APs and staff in the office with a special acknowledgement of Becki Visser, the executive assistant to the provost. Our staff and APs are instrumental to the work we do; they are the first people we greet every morning; they are the colleagues who work every day to make our work possible and our days go smoothly, and they set the tone for everything that happens in the office. They are the water inhabited by our work and professional lives and are owed most of the credit for the collegial, welcoming, and friendly atmosphere in the office and the office’s events. Again, alphabetically, thank you Becky Beechler (Finance), Travus Burton (Community Engagement), Mike Eichberger (Direct credit, partnerships), Justine Rau Kibet (admin support), Jill Salisbury (admin support), Lisa Surman (admin support), Krystal Vanden Bosch (admin support), and Phuong Vo (Assessment).
With much gratitude,
Fatma
