Welcome Dr. Andrew Harris, new Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

I am delighted to announce that Dr. Andrew Harris will be joining us as our new Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, beginning September 1.

Dr. Harris comes to us from San Francisco State University, where he has served as Dean of the College of Liberal & Creative Arts since 2016. Like UW Tacoma, SFSU is noted for its role in fostering the social mobility of its students and their families.

As EVCAA, Dr. Harris will serve as UW Tacoma’s chief academic officer, overseeing undergraduate and graduate education, academic and curriculum planning, faculty development and advancement, and resource allocation in the context of our shared governance model.

Academic Affairs units include our seven schools as well as Academic Human Resources, Undergraduate Education, Student Success,  Educational Outreach, Global Affairs, the Institute for Innovation and Global Engagement, the Library and the Office of Research.

A historian with degrees from Pomona College and Stanford University, Dr. Harris has been deeply involved in all aspects of the academic enterprise at SFSU, and previously as a Dean at Keene State College in New Hampshire and as a faculty member and administrator at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts. He also served as an American Council on Education Fellow at the University of Rhode Island.

He is committed to the role of public higher education in providing opportunity and promoting success for all. He helped create and supervised the Office of Institutional Diversity at Bridgewater State, and while at SFSU he has worked energetically to diversify the faculty through hiring, co-created an equity-focused leadership development program, and increased external funding for faculty research, scholarships and student success initiatives. At all his institutions he has expanded and strengthened undergraduate research opportunities.

Dr. Harris asked me to share this message with you:

“I am inspired by UW Tacoma’s commitment to the city and the region, to the highest levels of its students’ achievement, and to the equity-driven educational outcomes that lie at the foundation of social mobility,” Dr. Harris noted. “I am committed to supporting your efforts towards improving retention and enrollment growth, and to supporting both a sustainable academic program and an ethically just culture within the university. I look forward to our work together.”

I would like to thank the search committee for their diligent work to bring us Dr. Harris: Menaka Abraham (SET) and Mentha Hynes-Wilson (Student Affairs), co-chairs; and members Bernard Anderson (Student Affairs), Yonn Dierwechter (Urban Studies), Annie Downey (Library), Laura Feuerborn (Education), Cheryl Greengrove (SIAS/Research), Megan Harper (Professional Development Center), Marian Harris (SWCJ), Darcy Janzen (Digital Learning), Danica Miller (SIAS), Keva Miller (SWCJ), Brent Van Manen (graduate student), Carolyn West (SIAS), James West (SET), Eric Wilson-Edge (Advancement) and Weichao Yuwen (NHCL).

And I want to express deep gratitude to Dr. Ali Modarres, who has served as our interim executive vice chancellor for the past academic year, during a particularly challenging time for UW Tacoma and higher education generally.