Welcome to the Fall 2022 semester, and welcome to what is shaping up to be our first post-pandemic academic year at Pace University.
I’m looking forward to welcoming you all in person, and I hope I’ll see you at our Welcome Back celebrations coming up in the next few weeks. We’ll be at the Kessel Student Center in Pleasantville for Common Hour on Monday, September 12, and at the One Pace Plaza Student Center in New York City for Common Hour on Tuesday, September 20. (Plans are in development for Haub Law.) Expect food, music, and a chance to catch up with University leaders, your colleagues, and our students.
As we move into the new year, I’m eager to talk with you about our vision for Pace in this academic year, and the work we’ll do to advance our strategic plan, Pace Forward. We’ll be scheduling meetings soon for these discussions. We are also committed to acting on the results of the Great Colleges to Work For survey, which we’ll be releasing shortly. I know that we must improve communication and transparency between the administration and all those who work for the University, and we’ll be discussing plans for doing that.
For now, as we return for the new year, I want to highlight the summer of leadership change we experienced at Pace.
In July, we announced two appointments and two departures. Joseph R. Franco, PhD, agreed to serve as interim provost after Vanya Quiñones, PhD, moved on to become president of Cal State Monterey Bay. And Nicole Thompson Williams was elevated to the new position of senior vice president for operations, adding Information Technology Services and a new unit, Enterprise Information Systems, to her portfolio after the retirement of Paul Dampier.
Then in August we announced four additional appointments. Jeffrey A. Barnett, PhD, joined Pace as our new vice president for student affairs and dean for students. Nila Bhaumik joined us as vice president for human resources and chief human resources officer. Beth Gordon, PhD, agreed to serve as interim vice president of Information Technology Services and chief information officer. And Marcus Braga Alves, PhD, agreed to serve as interim associate provost for academic affairs.
I now also must announce the departure of our chief diversity officer and associate vice president for diversity and inclusion, Tiffany S.W. Hamilton. Tiffany accepted an important new role as CEO of the YWCA White Plains & Central Westchester. In her three years at Pace, she built a new and vibrant DEI organization at Pace, and she became a valued and deeply respected member of our community. We are sad to see Tiffany leave us, but we are excited for the opportunity in front of her. We will announce interim leadership for the DEI division soon.
Amid all this change, I’m very excited for the new academic year, and I look forward to embarking upon it alongside you. I also want to ask each of you to do your part to take care of yourselves and take care of our community. Please make sure you are up-to-date with your COVID-19 boosters—the new covalent booster, protecting against both omicron strains and the original virus, is available in the New York region, with appointments readily available at pharmacy chains like CVS and Duane Reade/Walgreens and at your healthcare providers.
As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions. I hope I’ll see you at the Welcome Back celebrations.
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Marvin Krislov
President
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