The University of Tampa has appointed
Dr. Janet McNew provost and vice president for academic affairs
following an exhaustive national search and multiple interview process.
She will assume her duties this summer.
McNew is provost and
dean of the faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University, where she also is
a professor of English. She spent a decade as provost at IWU, where she
also spent more than a year as acting president.
“Janet will
bring great skill and expertise to the position at a time when the
University is further shaping its academic organization,” President Ron
Vaughn said. “With a rich background in teaching, scholarship and
academic administration, she will help to provide the leadership needed
to advance the UT educational experience and help us further define the
unique educational attributes of the University.
“Her service to
Illinois Wesleyan was exemplary. She led IWU in improving its
educational experience, invigorated the core curriculum, strengthened
its community involvement, and attracted a Phi Beta Kappa chapter to
campus. IWU’s Mellon Center for Faculty and Curriculum Development was
created during her tenure, and she hired more than half of the school’s
present faculty.”
“I was fortunate enough to be able to consider
a range of opportunities and to choose the University of Tampa because
it most clearly calls upon my background and talents,” McNew said.
“Janet McNew was the clear choice not only of the committee, but of the
entire faculty,” said search committee co-chair Dr. David Ford,
professor of chemistry. “The second choice wasn’t even close.
“I
have to give credit to Ron Vaughn for selling her on our institution,"
said Ford, noting that she had been concurrently offered the position
of president at a university in Alabama. "She’s topnotch.”
McNew
received her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, and her MA and Ph.D. in English Language and Literature
from the University of Virginia. She taught in and chaired the
Department of English at St. John’s University/College of Saint
Benedict prior to her time at IWU.
For more information, contact the Office of Public Information at publicinfo@ut.edu or (813) 253-6232.