Pacific University will see changes to its leadership starting this summer on July 1. President Lesley Hallick announced the changes on January 7.
Sarah Phillips, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, will retain her role as dean while also stepping into the vacant position of vice president for enrollment management. Ann Barr-Gillespie, currently the Vice Provost and the Executive Dean for the College of Health Professions, will move into the Provost position, and vice president for academic affairs. On January 1, Karla Staihar joined the Cabinet as chief of staff.
“My role over the past ten years has been building the campus and bringing new programs to the college of health professions to complete our suite of comprehensive health programs and work with our partners in the Hillsboro district,” said Barr-Gillespie.
All five colleges at the university plus the libraries will report to Barr-Gillespie. She has also helped to put together a task force to look at what the needs for faculty members are, and to help further their career development in the realm of faculty work. Not only does the task force support the scholarship of faculty members, but also supports the research effort at the university in general. The Office of Scholarship and Sponsored Projects aids senior students working on projects with human subjects.
Phillips’s new role as vice president for enrollment management means that she will be looking at ways that the university can plan for the long term and address demographic changes.
“People weren’t having babies in the 2008 recession, and we see that in enrollment patterns years down the road,” said Phillips. “We need to plan for that kind of stuff.”
Phillips will also be looking at where students’ interests lie, and how that changes. For example, in some years, more students might be interested in the university’s graduate and master’s programs than the undergraduate programs. Her role ensures that Pacific can adjust to these kinds of changes, and remain stable.
Both Phillips and Barr-Gillespie are looking forward to stepping up into their new roles this summer.
“We’ve been working very hard to deal with everything related to COVID-19, and this is the way we’re looking and working beyond that and thinking about the future of the university, which is very bright,” said Barr-Gillespie. — Ella Cutter
Photo: Pacific University implemented administrative changes as early as January 1, and will continue to train faculty for their new roles during the upcoming semester (Julien Dagan)
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