Welcome Provost Alcock!

I was very excited to read the announcement of our new Provost, Professor Sue Alcock, who will begin her responsibilities on January 1. As Chancellor Grasso recently noted, “Sue has a long and distinguished career in the academy having held numerous administrative and academic roles. She is a world-acclaimed scholar and teacher who will bring great insight, perspective and industry to our senior leadership team,” Grasso said. “Sue has served at some of the best universities in the world. Her experiences at Brown University, and the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor and Flint), have prepared her to immediately step into this position and make a significant impact on our campus.”

Equally as important, from the perspective of the college is Sue’s academic training and area of focus. Alcock is an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor (https://www.provost.umich.edu/programs/thurnau/ )
and professor of classical archaeology and classics in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, in Ann Arbor and she is a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (often called a “genius grant” https://www.macfound.org/programs/fellows/strategy/ ). The author of 13 books and more than 50 articles (she has been cited thousands of times), Alcock’s background will serve CASL well and will ensure that the liberal arts and humanities will be well represented in university-level discussions.

Sue follows in the footsteps of Kate Davy whose efforts profoundly transformed the campus in many positive ways. I am grateful to Kate for her bold and creative leadership and look forward to working with Provost Alcock in moving our campus forward!