Appointment of Victoria Sahani as Associate Provost for Community & Inclusion at Boston University
From Dr. Jean Morrison, University Provost and Chief Academic Officer
This past February, Boston University launched a national search for a new associate provost for community and inclusion. After a process that considered several strong candidates and incorporated wide-ranging, thoughtful feedback from the BU community, I am delighted to announce the appointment of Victoria Sahani as associate provost for community and inclusion and professor of law, effective October 17.
Victoria comes to BU from the Sandra Day O’Connor Law School at Arizona State University (ASU), where she has been a tenured professor since 2017 and a professor of law since 2019. She most recently served as associate dean of special projects and director of the Faculty Inclusion for Research System Transformation (FIRST) university-wide initiative. Victoria began her law teaching career at Washington and Lee University School of Law (W&L) before joining ASU in 2017. Victoria is a productive, internationally recognized legal scholar in the fields of arbitration law and litigation finance law and an award-winning teacher. She has worked extensively at both ASU and W&L to develop policies, procedures, programs, and initiatives targeted at faculty recruitment, retention, and professional development to ensure inclusive excellence and attention to diversity among academic appointees. She has likewise worked to nurture a campus-wide culture of inclusion and positivity at both schools with programs designed to foster awareness and commitment to issues of racial and ethnic difference, diversity, and inclusion.
Prior to teaching law, Victoria was deputy director of arbitration and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in North America for the International Chamber of Commerce’s International Court of Arbitration and deputy director of the Arbitration and ADR Committee of the US Council for International Business. She continues to hold several leadership positions in the international arbitration community, including chair of the Academic Council of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration, and published the first book in the world about her field, Third-Party Funding in International Arbitration (2nd ed., 2017), along with numerous book chapters and articles in top law reviews. She received her law degree from Harvard Law School and her undergraduate degree in psychology from Harvard College and remains an active member of the bar in New York and the District of Columbia.
As our next associate provost for community and inclusion, Victoria will help guide BU’s efforts to ensure inclusive excellence of faculty and academic appointees, nurture a positive campus climate, and enhance diversity and inclusion within the academic program. She will also provide leadership in implementing two essential pillars of BU’s 2030 strategic plan – Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and Community – Big Yet Small – as we continue to enhance the environment and opportunities we afford all members of our community. This includes a growing portfolio of programs, among them the Target of Opportunity Hiring Program, D&I STARS Program, University Scholars Program, Faculty & Staff Community Networks, and living-learning communities, as well as the BU Arts Initiative, the Newbury Center, and the LGBTQIA+ Center for Faculty & Staff.
In speaking with Victoria about her experience, her approach, and her ideas for continued progress in diversity and inclusion at BU, it was evident from the outset that her legal background, her commitment to data-driven, evidence-based research, and a bold, clear vision for the work of inclusion at a university of our size were ideal attributes for success in this role. The members of our search committee were likewise uniform in praising Victoria’s energy, warmth, thoughtfulness, and ability to engage audiences of multiple backgrounds. Victoria will officially begin her duties on October 17, 2022, and will hold an additional appointment as a professor in the School of Law.
I would like to thank the members of the Associate Provost for Community & Inclusion Search Committee (listed below), chaired by College of Fine Arts Dean Harvey Young, for their excellent work over the spring and summer in soliciting and reviewing nominations, as well as the members of the BU community who took part in our listening sessions and provided valuable input in this process. I’d also like to give special thanks to Karin Firoza, who has served admirably as associate provost ad interim for community and inclusion since this past January.
Please join us in welcoming Victoria Sahani as the next associate provost for community and inclusion and in wishing her well in this exciting new role. We look forward to her arrival in the coming days and to building on the significant institutional progress we’ve made in enhancing a culture of inclusion at Boston University.
Associate Provost for Community & Inclusion Search Committee
Chair:
Harvey Young, Dean, College of Fine Arts
Members:
Yvette Cozier, Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice; Associate Professor of Epidemiology, School of Public Health
Daniel Kleinman, Associate Provost for Graduate Affairs
Patricia O’Brien, Vice President and Associate Provost for Academic Budgets & Planning
Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Dean, School of Law
Stan Sclaroff, Dean, College of Arts & Sciences