SUBJECT:

Marshall College Provost

In his tenth year of distinguished service as Provost of Thurgood Marshall College, Professor Allan Havis has announced that he will conclude his tenure as Provost effective June 30, 2016.

A renowned playwright, Provost Havis has had a profound impact on Thurgood Marshall College and the campus. Under his leadership, TMC traditions have been enriched and its mission strengthened with the addition of several new academic and student life programs and prominent speaker series. He has also shepherded several programs which have expanded the College's reach into the community.

As Provost, Havis established the highly successful Marshall Mentor Program for Transfer Students, which pairs over 75 students with faculty mentors annually. He initiated the Artist-in-Residence program at TMC which offers no-cost performances by a diverse array of Southern California performance artists to both the campus community and students from affiliated charter schools. Provost Havis also partnered with many campus stakeholders - students, faculty, staff and administration - on the addition of commissioned public art installations on campus that highlight the work of UC San Diego graduate students and the TMC mission. Notable works include the mosaic Chicano Legacy Mural and the life-scale sculpture Sojourner Truth by alumna Manuelita Brown.

Provost Havis has affected positive change within the College's Dimensions of Culture Program (DOC), heightened Marshall's Honors Program, and strengthened the College's commitment to the regional community by providing over 500 college tutors to K-12 partner schools of Preuss School, UCSD and Gompers Preparatory Academy annually. He served as an active member of the Preuss School Board from 2006-2015, and in recent years secured successive grants from the Girard Foundation and other sponsors to fund Marshall's partnership efforts with the School. This fall, TMC launched a student exchange with Xavier University in New Orleans, extending Marshall's existing Black Historic Colleges exchange program with Spelman and Morehouse Colleges in Atlanta.

Under his leadership, Marshall College collaborated with Warren and Roosevelt Colleges and the California Western School of Law to host two successful Civil Rights Symposium Weeks, and in 2007 established the Thurgood Marshall Medal to honor campus and non-affiliate public leaders in civic affairs. Marshall College's programming during his tenure has included sponsorship of Nobel Laureate artists Derek Walcott and Wole Soyinka, New York Times Pulitzer columnist Nicholas Kristof and civil rights activists Myrlie Evers-Williams and the late Julian Bond.

As the recent Chair of Council of Provosts (COP), Provost Havis partnered with his COP colleagues in the design and implementation of the First Year Experience (FYE) program, a two-unit course for student success piloted last Fall and expanded this academic year.

Please join me in expressing sincere gratitude to Provost Havis for his outstanding leadership of and dedication to Thurgood Marshall College for the past ten years. A campus-wide search for his successor will commence shortly.

Suresh Subramani Executive Vice Chancellor