May 1, 2020
Dear colleagues,
On behalf of Chancellor Gillman, I am pleased to announce that Michael Dennin has been appointed to a second five-year term as Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning and Dean of the Division of Undergraduate Education.
This reappointment decision follows an administrative review, which included materials submitted by Vice Provost Dennin and letters of evaluation from senior administrators, deans, associate deans, faculty, external reviewers and staff members. The review committee provided a report on his performance and accomplishments. I am grateful to the committee and its chair, Richard Arum, Dean of the School of Education, for their commitment and contributions to the process.
As the first Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning at UCI, Michael Dennin established a mission and vision dedicated to enhancing undergraduate student success. Under his leadership, the Division of Undergraduate Education was reorganized and the Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation was created to streamline support and enable the transformation of instruction at UCI. Summer Session was integrated into the main campus structure to incorporate strategic review of course offerings.
During his term, Vice Provost Dennin offered support for students through a wide range of academic programs and services and for faculty by scaling tools and programs to advance undergraduate teaching. I briefly describe a few of his successes here. He established the Active Learning Institute that has certified more than 200 faculty and helped to maximize the benefits of the active learning classrooms in the Anteater Learning Pavilion. As a strong advocate for advancing diversity and embracing equity, he helped establish the First Generation Faculty Mentor program, a model that has been adopted across the UC system. He has advocated for the transformation of the Campuswide Honors Program into a Collegium focused on academic excellence and student diversity.
Vice Provost Dennin provides strong leadership for the extensive portfolio of services under his administration and he has made excellent progress in positioning UCI as a national model for pedagogical innovation and student success. UCI is fortunate to have his continued service in this role. Please join me in congratulating Vice Provost Dennin on this reappointment and for his contributions to UCI.
Sincerely,
Hal S. Stern, Ph.D.
Interim Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor
Chancellor’s Professor, Department of Statistics