I am writing to share an update on leadership in the Provost’s Office. Elizabeth Newman, who has served as Vice Provost for Curriculum and Undergraduate Education since 2021, has been hired as dean of the College of Liberal Arts at University of Texas, Arlington. She will join UT-Arlington this summer.

Since assuming the vice provost role, Elizabeth has made significant strides working with her team to streamline curricular processes and enhance services to support academic success across Stony Brook’s undergraduate student population.

Through her oversight of curriculum, Elizabeth has transformed previously opaque processes to ones marked by collaboration, efficiency, and transparency. She has streamlined the academic program proposal workflow, strengthened relations with key curriculum stakeholders, and empowered her team to promote best practices in curricular design.

Leading the Division of Undergraduate Education, Elizabeth has introduced opportunities for cross-department collaboration and for staff advancement both within the division and across the university. She set into motion a multi-year plan to support university retention and graduation goals, including a Faculty Fellowship program to support innovations in undergraduate teaching; an applied research lab focused on scalable student success practices; and several key hires with an emphasis on high-impact practices. She also took a data-driven and collaborative approach to improving course availability, resulting in significant improvements to students' ability to make degree progress. And she leads the Undergraduate Student Success Committee, which brings together leadership in Undergraduate Education, Student Affairs, and Enrollment Management, to facilitate a holistic approach to student success.

Elizabeth has contributed significant service at Stony Brook, with recent committee appointments including the Middle States Reaccreditation Committee, the Graduate Education Working Group, the Data Governance Committee, COVID Recovery Task Force, and the Continuing, Professional and Executive Education Working Group. She also served as Associate Dean for Curriculum in the College of Arts and Sciences, and she has contributed as faculty to the Department of History, the Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences, and the Sustainability Studies program during her 15 years at Stony Brook.

As we recently announced, we are shifting this vice provost portfolio to focus solely on undergraduate education. We will spend the next few weeks to identify candidates to serve as interim vice provost. If you wish to nominate any candidates, you may click here to submit them via an online form. 

Please join me in thanking Elizabeth for her leadership in curriculum and undergraduate education at Stony Brook and congratulating her on this new leadership opportunity.

Sincerely,
Carl

Carl Lejuez
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs