BU Associate Provost for Graduate Affairs Steps Down
Internal, external candidates will be considered to replace Timothy Barbari
After leaving his post as associate provost for graduate affairs, Timothy Barbari will remain at BU as a faculty member in the College of Engineering biomedical engineering department. Photo by Cydney Scott
Timothy Barbari, the University’s first associate provost for graduate affairs, is stepping down from his role at the end of June. A chemical engineer by training, Barbari will teach at the College of Engineering, where he is a professor of biomedical engineering, Provost Jean Morrison announced in an email to the University Leadership Group late last month.
Barbari was hired in July 2012 as part of an effort, first detailed in the University’s 2007 strategic plan, to strengthen the quality and stature of BU’s PhD programs so they would be competitive with the very best programs in the country.
“Tim has provided exceptional leadership advancing Boston University’s graduate and professional programs since joining us four years ago,” Morrison says. “The associate provost for graduate affairs position was new when he stepped in, and he has succeeded in building collaborative relationships with our deans and colleges to foster innovative graduate program development across our campuses… Due to Tim’s considerable efforts, BU’s graduate and professional enterprise is in an excellent position to continue to grow and innovate.”
Morrison credits Barbari, who chaired the Graduate Council and the University Council Committee on Graduate Affairs, with successfully implementing a five-year funding model to support doctoral education, convening University-wide conversations about the best policies and practices to support BU’s graduate students, leading a rigorous process for review of proposed new graduate degree programs, and helping to develop a central graduate admissions portal to streamline submissions and review of student applications.
Barbari earned a BS from the Colorado School of Mines, an MS from the University of California, Berkeley, and a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to coming to BU, he was dean of Georgetown University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and he has more than 25 years of teaching experience at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland, College Park, and Georgetown. His research focuses on molecular transport in polymers and hydrogels.
Morrison says there will be a national-level search, comprising both internal and external candidates, to find the University’s next associate provost for graduate affairs. She describes the ideal individual as an “accomplished faculty member and administrative leader who is able to execute a strategic vision for graduate affairs at BU and has a full understanding of, and immersion in, the culture of discovery and competitive ecosystem that define the modern global research institution.”
Interested applicants or those wishing to nominate a candidate should email Nicole Hawkes, associate provost for strategic initiatives and chief of staff in the Office of the Provost, at nhawkes@bu.edu. Morrison says she expects to name a new associate provost for graduate affairs before the start of the next academic year.
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