UW Tacoma Announces Dr. Melissa Lavitt as New Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

UW Tacoma Chancellor Mark A. Pagano announced the appointment today of Dr. Melissa Lavitt to the new position of Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.

Dr. Lavitt will work with the faculty on the academic shared governance of the UW Tacoma campus. She will administer the promotion and tenure process and serve as the university’s chief academic officer.

Dr. Lavitt comes to UW Tacoma from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), a unique, collaborative urban-serving institution created in 1969 with the merger of the Indianapolis campuses and programs of Indiana University and Purdue University. She most recently served as that campus’s Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.

In a statement announcing her appointment, Chancellor Pagano cited Dr. Lavitt’s tenure at IUPUI. “I know we will benefit from Dr. Lavitt’s experience in a multi-campus environment and familiarity with our urban-serving mission,” said Pagano.

Dr. Nita McKinley, chair of the search committee that recommended Dr. Lavitt for the position and past chair of the UW Tacoma faculty assembly, said that the search committee was pleased with the appointment.

“We are very pleased that Dr. Lavitt will be our new Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. The search committee would like to thank the campus community for the time that so many spent on reviewing the candidates and providing feedback. We know that Dr. Lavitt will be a great addition to our leadership team and that the community will enjoy getting to know her as we have,” said McKinley.

In his message to campus, Pagano lauded the work of Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Bill Kunz.

“I want also to thank Dr. Bill Kunz for his invaluable service to the campus as the Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. Bill navigated the academic enterprise through a challenging course. As I have said before, he may have had the word ‘interim’ in his title, but there was nothing interim about his contributions to our progress.”

Dr. Lavitt’s first official day at UW Tacoma will be January 4, 2016. She will have a faculty appointment as a full professor in the Social Work Program, reflecting her academic background. She received both her Master of Social Work and PhD in Social Work from Tulane University.