Dear Members of the Campus Community,

Following today’s business meeting of the board of trustees, I write to inform you of the following arrangements to further strengthen the university’s leadership team.

  • Provost. The role in which Academic Vice President Kris Bartanen serves as the senior academic administrator within the university is more typically titled Provost at colleges and universities across the nation. Refining her title will help us clarify the broad portfolio for which she is responsible (academic advising, associate/assistant deans, athletics, diversity and inclusion, graduate studies, institutional research, library, registration, a range of other student support services, and student affairs) and help us attract an experienced Vice President for Student Affairs who will serve as a member of the President’s Cabinet.
  • Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Similarly, the role in which Sherry Mondou serves exceeds the customary responsibilities of a Vice President for Finance and Administration. The title of Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer better represents her duties and scope of authority within the organization (including oversight of auxiliary operations, security services, human resources, career and employment services, facilities, technology, risk management, finance, budget, and legal affairs).
  • Vice President and University Counsel, Secretary to the Corporation. Given the complexities within higher education, the expanding breadth of legal matters and the value of critical thinking about the future of higher education, the trend across all institutions of higher education, including small and mid-sized colleges, is a movement to in-house counsel. The university’s legal services are managed entirely on a contract basis, making it difficult for us to handle issues as efficiently and nimbly as we would like, and diverting campus leadership from core areas of responsibility. The trustees have approved a budget-neutral proposal that will allow us to establish in-house counsel to help us evaluate and manage complex matters such as legal disputes, regulatory compliance, contracts, policy development, crisis and risk management, protection of intellectual property, and new initiatives, while reserving funding for outside counsel as needed. This position will serve as a member of the President’s Cabinet and also manage corporate and board governance, creating a more balanced portfolio of work for Liz Collins in her role as Director of the Office of the President. We hope to begin a search shortly and have the role filled in summer.

As we are all aware, these are critical times for higher education and for Puget Sound; we must be resourceful in allocating our existing resources to meet our current and future needs. I am confident that implementation of these budget-neutral adjustments to our leadership team will yield positive results for Puget Sound as we work together to develop and implement our strategic plan and achieve our next level of excellence as a university community.

Sincerely,

Isiaah
Isiaah Crawford, Ph.D. | President