Associate Provost Beth Loizeaux to Step Down; Call for Nominations for New Associate Provost for Undergraduate Affairs
From Dr. Jean Morrison, University Provost and Chief Academic Officer
I write to announce that Beth Loizeaux, Associate Provost for Undergraduate Affairs and Professor of English, has announced that she plans to retire and will be stepping down from her role at the end of December 2019. I know that Beth’s departure will be felt widely across the University. Her contributions to BU have been innumerable and the University will continue to benefit from the results of her leadership for years to come. I will personally miss Beth’s wisdom and thoughtfulness; her dedication to educational excellence and her clarity of perspective have been gifts.
Since assuming the role of Associate Provost in 2012, Beth has provided leadership on a wide variety of matters relating to undergraduate education, including academic advising, curricular and pedagogical innovation, academic policies, fellowships and scholarships, and learning outcomes assessment. She has worked with BU’s schools and colleges to promote collaboration and strengthen the undergraduate academic and intellectual experience.
Perhaps most significantly, Beth was an integral leader in the creation and implementation of the BU Hub, BU’s first University-wide general education curriculum. The development of this new, high-profile, forward-looking program required a wise, patient, and dedicated leader; Beth filled this role admirably. The BU Hub will be a signature feature of a BU education for decades to come, and I remain deeply grateful to Beth for her leadership in its development and implementation, and for her work building a strong team that will lead the Hub into the future.
Beth has also overseen the Kilachand Honors College, the BU Arts Initiative, the Center for Teaching & Learning, and the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). Throughout all of her responsibilities, she has maintained an unwavering focus on ensuring that undergraduate students across the University have the best possible educational experience, from curricular and program innovations to quality academic advising. Beth’s belief in the importance of valuing excellent teaching has been felt University-wide through the conferring of the University’s annual faculty teaching awards, recruitment and oversight of the Provost’s Faculty Fellow for Undergraduate Programs, and her leadership and support for the Center for Teaching & Learning. She has also brought BU into national conversations about advancing undergraduate education through her leadership positions with the Reinvention Collaborative, a consortium of research universities dedicated to innovation and excellence in undergraduate education.
Beth came to BU from the University of Maryland, College Park, where she served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of English in the College of Arts and Humanities. Her scholarship focuses on 20th century poetry, and her most recent book, Twentieth-Century Poetry and the Visual Arts, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2008. Beth has a master’s degree and Ph.D. in English from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College.
Please join me in thanking Beth for her many contributions to Boston University and in wishing her well in the future. There will be an opportunity for us to celebrate Beth more formally later this semester.
Over the next month, I will consult broadly across the University to identify a new Associate Provost for Undergraduate Affairs. The Associate Provost provides central leadership on undergraduate academic efforts, working closely with the schools and colleges to promote collaboration and strengthen the undergraduate experience. The Associate Provost also oversees the BU Hub, the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, the Kilachand Honors College, the BU Arts Initiative, and, in collaboration with the Associate Provost for Digital Learning & Innovation, the Center for Teaching & Learning. The Associate Provost reports to the Provost and is a member of the Provost’s Cabinet.
If you would like to nominate an individual to be considered for this position or would like to be considered yourself, please send a nomination or expression of interest via email to me at provost@bu.edu. Alternatively, please send nominations or letters of interest in writing to me at the Office of the Provost. Please mark the envelope ‘Confidential’ if you would like your correspondence to be held in confidence. While nominations of individuals who are external to BU are welcome, there is a strong preference for internal candidates. Candidates must hold a faculty appointment to be considered for this role. I expect to identify and name a successor before the end of the calendar year.