Vice Provost for Health Sciences

University of Connecticut

Vice Provost for Health Sciences

 

The University of Connecticut (UConn), one of the nation’s leading public research universities, seeks a dynamic administrator to join its senior leadership team as Vice Provost for Health Sciences. UConn seeks candidates who have a comprehensive resume of success in academic leadership roles and who can demonstrate exceptional skills that will enable them to support a research and educational enterprise across multiple campuses.

The Vice Provost for Health Sciences (VPHS) will provide coordination for the health sciences, facilitate research and teaching endeavors in those fields, introduce greater connections to, and integration across, other units. Supporting the University’s research mission, the VPHS will help to advance the scholarly activities of the faculty, including interdisciplinary opportunities.

The successful candidate will be a nationally recognized leader prepared to extend and expand UConn’s achievements in health sciences. With meaningful experience at a research university, the ideal candidate will have demonstrated success as an educator, a researcher, and an administrator.

The University of Connecticut has retained the services of Parker Executive Search to conduct this important search. Confidential inquiries, nominations, and applications may be directed to the search firm as indicated at the end of this posting.

 

THE UNIVERSITY

The University of Connecticut is one of the top public research universities in the nation, with faculty and students pursuing answers to critical questions in labs, lecture halls, and the community. Knowledge exploration throughout the University’s network of campuses is united by a culture of innovation. For the past decade, the University has been on a remarkable journey of expansion and growth. By every measure, from student diversity to research grants, UConn has enhanced its standing. An unprecedented commitment from the state of Connecticut ensures UConn attracts internationally renowned faculty and the world’s brightest students. In just twenty years, the University’s ranking by U.S. News & World Report among public universities has risen from 38 in 1998 to 22 in 2018.

Founded in 1881, UConn is a Land Grant and Sea Grant college and member of the Space Grant Consortium. It is the state’s flagship institution of higher education and includes a main campus in Storrs, CT, four regional campuses (in Avery Point, Hartford, Stamford, and Waterbury), and 13 Schools and Colleges, including Medical and Dental Schools at the UConn Health campus in Farmington. The University has approximately 10,000 faculty and staff and 32,000 students, including more than 24,000 undergraduates and over 8,000 graduate/professional students. UConn is a Carnegie Foundation R1 (highest research activity) institution.

In 2011, the state of Connecticut authorized Bioscience Connecticut, which provides funding to UConn to enhance UConn Health’s facilities, support greater research innovation, and grow the number of scientists and students in UConn’s Medical and Dental Schools. The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine built a new research campus adjacent to the Health Center campus as a direct result of the state’s investment in Bioscience Connecticut, enabling Connecticut to assume a position of global leadership in developing new medical treatments tailored to each patient’s unique genetic makeup.

In 2013, the state legislature enacted Next Generation Connecticut, a ten-year capital investment that has increased the size of UConn’s student body, dramatically enhanced physical infrastructure for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math programs, and created premiere STEM programs.

UConn’s total budget for 2018 was $2.4 billion, and the current value of its endowment is approximately $450 million. Between the Storrs and Farmington campuses, the University annually receives over $185 million in research awards and is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. The University has approximately 254,000 alumni worldwide, 135,000 of whom live in Connecticut. Student diversity continues to increase, as does the number of honor students, valedictorians, and salutatorians who consistently make UConn their top choice. UConn’s retention rate is among the best for public universities in the nation, with 94 percent of students returning for their sophomore year.

Through freedom of academic inquiry and expression, UConn creates and disseminates knowledge by means of scholarly and creative achievements, graduate and professional education, and outreach. With a focus on teaching and learning, the University helps every student grow intellectually and become a contributing member of the state, national, and world communities.

In its research, teaching, service, and outreach activities, UConn embraces diversity and cultivates leadership, integrity, and engaged citizenship in its students, faculty, staff, and alumni. As the state’s flagship public University, and as a Land and Sea Grant institution, UConn promotes the health and well-being of citizens by enhancing the social, economic, cultural, and natural environments of the state and beyond.

 

THE POSITION

The VPHS will play a significant role in the entire academic program at UConn, including the Schools and Colleges at Storrs and the Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine at UConn Health.

Responsibilities for the VPHS will include:

• Facilitating interdisciplinary research among investigators in partnership with Deans, particularly through collaborations between researchers on the main Storrs campus and UConn Health’s Farmington campus, in alignment with the research strategic plan of UConn Health’s academic enterprise.
• Working with both campuses and the Office of the Vice President for Research to maximize extramural funding opportunities.
• Convening a Health Sciences Advisory Council, consisting of representatives from the School of Dental Medicine, the School of Medicine, the School of Nursing, the School of Pharmacy, the School of Social Work, the College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources (CAHNR), the School of Engineering, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS), the Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP), and the Institute for Systems Genomics (ISG).
• Enhancing interprofessional education in the health sciences across UConn’s clinical training programs.
• Participating in decisions affecting resource allocation among schools, colleges, and interdisciplinary programs, evaluation of academic programs, promotion and tenure, and the setting of research priorities, working with Deans as needed.
• Carrying out other duties as assigned by the Provost.

The deans of the relevant units will continue to report to the Provost and be accountable to the Provost for their units’ various functions, operations and administration, promotion and tenure, and academic programming.

QUALIFICATIONS

The University of Connecticut seeks a dynamic leader with the following qualifications and skills:

• A Ph.D., M.D., or other terminal degree in a field relevant to health sciences.
• Credentials that merit appointment at the rank of full professor in one of UConn’s schools or colleges.
• A proven leader and talented administrator.
• Demonstrable experience applying sound judgment and political acumen.
• Demonstrable skill to discern and reflect perspectives attentively.
• Demonstrable skill in written and oral communications about complex topics with proven experience interacting effectively with members of diverse constituencies.
• Experience developing effective relationship-strengthening and communications strategies.
• Ability to prioritize workload to meet strict deadlines in an environment of multiple projects and changing priorities.
• At least five years of progressively responsible leadership positions at a research institution.

The successful candidate will also have the following traits:

• A profound sense of integrity and professionalism.
• A clear ability to use good judgment and make sound decisions.
• A leadership style that invites collaboration, encourages teamwork, welcomes diverse perspectives, and values transparency.
• Demonstrated ability to manage change, resolve conflict, and build consensus.
• Superior interpersonal and communication skills, including tactfulness, and the ability to navigate controversy gracefully and to treat all people with civility and respect.

The ideal candidate will also have the following preferred characteristics:

• Demonstrated experience at a research university and success as a researcher.
• Demonstrated capability to support research and to foster interdisciplinary collaboration.
• A robust understanding of the process required for gaining extramural research funding.
• The ability to imagine new possibilities for the University, develop and articulate a vision, and to specify and prioritize short and long-range objectives.
• The operational understanding to address structural barriers and institutional obstacles currently inhibiting greater collaboration between units at UConn’s Storrs campus and UConn Health in Farmington.
• The skills to navigate the organizational, political, and fiscal realities unique to a major public research university, and to make changes to improve current practice, including effective advocacy for the resources required to uphold mandates and achieve aspirations.
• A strong record of accomplishment with respect to promoting diversity, including assessing needs, developing initiatives, and applying best practices.
• The ability to work productively and cooperatively with administrators, faculty, students, staff, educators, and community leaders as partners to advance the University’s research, teaching, engagement, outreach, and service missions.

 

TO APPLY

The University of Connecticut is committed to building and supporting a multicultural and diverse community of students, faculty, and staff. UConn’s faculty and staff are the critical link to fostering and expanding our vibrant and diverse University community. As an Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity employer, UConn encourages applications from women, veterans, people with disabilities, and members of historically underrepresented populations.

Employment of the successful candidate is contingent upon the successful completion of a pre- employment criminal background check. All employees are subject to adherence to the State Code of Ethics which may be found at http://www.ct.gov/ethics/site/default.asp.  

Review of applications will begin immediately and continue on a confidential basis until an appointment is made.

The Search Committee invites nominations and applications (a letter of interest, curriculum vitae and the names and contact information of five or more references) to be submitted to the search firm assisting UConn. The nominations and applications will be held in the strictest confidence; references will not be contacted without prior approval of candidates. Confidential review of materials will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. For full consideration, it is preferred that all nominations and applications be submitted by January 4, 2019 to Parker Executive Search:

Laurie C. Wilder, President

Porsha L. Williams, Vice President

Jacob C. Anderson, Principal

Parker Executive Search

Five Concourse Parkway, Suite 2900 Atlanta, GA 30328

770‐804‐1996 ext. 111

janderson@parkersearch.com