On July 25, Provost June Piece Youatt sent the following note to the MSU Community regarding the leadership transition in the Academic Advancement Network:
Colleagues,
Ann Austin, Interim Associate Provost for Faculty and Academic Staff Development
I am pleased to announce that Ann Austin has agreed to serve as Interim Associate Provost for Faculty and Academic Staff Development, effective August 1. In her role as interim associate provost, she will provide leadership for the Academic Advancement Network. Ann steps into this role as Juli Wade has accepted a position as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Connecticut.
Dr. Austin currently serves as a professor of Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education. She also serves as Associate Dean for Research in the College of Education, where she provides ongoing support, mentoring, and advising for faculty on research and career-related issues, and as Assistant Provost for Faculty Development–Academic Career Paths, where she designs and implements approaches to support the professional growth of faculty members in various academic appointment types and across the stages of the career. She was recently named a University Distinguished Professor.
Ann arrived at MSU in 1991 as an assistant professor of higher education in the Department of Educational Administration. She received her Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Michigan, M.S. from Syracuse University, and B.A. from Bates College. Her research interests, within both U.S. and international contexts, concern academic work, careers, and professional development; organizational change in higher education; strategies to support women in STEM education and to create more inclusive academic workplaces; doctoral education; and teaching and learning in higher education.
We are so fortunate to have a national leader in academic career development as a colleague, and now as interim director of the Academic Advancement Network. I am excited for her contribution as an associate provost and her leadership as we continue to develop MSU’s unique organizational approach to professional and leadership development for faculty and academic staff.
A national search for the next Associate Provost for Faculty and Academic Staff Development is underway.
Please join me in welcoming Dr. Austin to this new role, and in thanking Juli Wade for her service in support of both AAN and MSU.
June Pierce Youatt
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs