On behalf of Susan Herbst, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

To: University Community

On behalf of the President, I am pleased to announce that Dr. Sue Faerman has agreed to serve as Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education for a three-year term effective immediately. “In elevating Dr. Faerman to the Provostial level of the institution,” comments President Hall, “we seek to underscore our emphasis on academics first at UAlbany, and our particular concern to give increased attention to the undergraduate program.”

In her new role as Vice Provost, Dr. Faerman will be responsible for the coordination of the academic experience of undergraduate students at this University. She will work closely with the vice presidents, deans and faculty of the individual schools and colleges and with the Undergraduate Academic Council in developing, coordinating, and implementing undergraduate academic policy and curricula. She will be responsible for University-wide undergraduate academic programs, such as the General Education program, an expanded campus-wide honors program (to be proposed shortly to the Senate), and Project Renaissance. She will serve as the Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, and she will work closely with Dr. Carson Carr and Ms. Sheila Mahan to improve our academic support services and advisement functions.

Vice Provost Faerman will continue to work from and oversee day-to-day operations of the Office of Undergraduate Studies. All staff currently attached to that unit will remain. Students and faculty should continue to relate to this Office for guidance related to undergraduate education policies and for service in connection with leaves, withdrawals and re-entry, transfer course equivalencies, articulation agreements with other academic institutions, student-initiated interdisciplinary majors and minors, and University-wide internships through the NYS Senate and Assembly.

Dr. Faerman brings to this post six years of outstanding leadership and experience as Dean of Undergraduate Studies at UAlbany. A full professor of public administration and policy, she is an impressive scholar, teacher and administrator. She cares deeply about our students, especially our undergraduate students, and about the direction and future of Albany as a modern research university. The President and I are delighted that Sue has agreed to take on these additional responsibilities at this time for our community. We ask you to give her your full support in this central and important, indeed critical, endeavor.

Susan Herbst
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs