Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor Leadership Transitions

Following years of exceptional service as members of the Executive Vice Chancellor senior leadership team, William Hodgkiss, Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Planning and Resources (Sr. AVC-AP&R) and Tamara Wall, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Personnel (AVC-AP) have announced that they will step down from their administrative posts at the end of Spring Quarter 2018. I am deeply appreciative of their outstanding contributions and wish them the very best as they return to their faculty positions full time.

Sr. AVC Hodgkiss has been a member of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography faculty and Marine Physical Laboratory since 1978, and currently has a joint appointment with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He joined the EVC leadership team in October 2011, and three EVCs have benefitted from his judicious counsel and exceptional leadership. Highlights of his contributions include the following:

Sr. AVC Hodgkiss was critical to the development and implementation of the system-wide Negotiated Salary Trial Program (referred to as GCCP at UC San Diego), which has been widely endorsed by participating faculty, department chairs, and administrators for its efficacy as a valuable tool for recruiting, retaining and supporting faculty. He has been a member of the systemwide NSTP Task Force since the pilot program's inception, and a fervent advocate for its (recently approved) continuation on our behalf. He has played an essential role leading implementation of new campus academic programs, policies, and initiatives including overseeing the use of technology-enhanced instruction. He advanced the research themes of our campus Strategic Plan, providing Dean-level oversight for the associated interdisciplinary faculty recruitments. He has also been a central to the development of our new Strategic Academic Program Development (SAPD) initiative to expand the variety and modalities of educational programs offered at UC San Diego. Additionally, Sr. AVC Hodgkiss has been integral to a number of major capital planning efforts, serving as a lead advisor on projects central to the physical transformation of our campus: most recently, the North Torrey Pines Living and Learning Neighborhood, Triton Pavilion for Student Resources and Community Engagement, Design and Innovation Building, and Theatre District Neighborhood Planning Study.

A professor of Psychiatry since 1995, UC San Diego alumna Tamara Wall was appointed Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Personnel (AVC-AP) and has served as the principal advisor to the EVC on all academic personnel matters since May 2015.

In this role, she has overseen and managed the Senate and non-Senate academic personnel process, academic compensation issues (including policies related to additional compensation), development of academic salary scales, and classification of academic positions. She has also provided leadership in conflict resolution involving academic employees, and advised the EVC on misconduct and grievance matters. In coordination with the EVC she has served as the liaison with the Committee on Academic Personnel (CAP), and represented the campus to the UC Office of the President and systemwide counterparts regarding academic personnel matters.

AVC Wall has provided oversight for the Office of Academic Personnel Services, and under her leadership, initiatives were implemented to improve the efficiency of the AP review process. Examples include providing clarity to campus stakeholders regarding academic personnel policies and procedures, and the application of new technology to improve academic personnel processes.

AVC Wall has also been a key partner with the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Deans and Faculty Equity Advisors in developing, implementing and supporting best practices in academic personnel processes, including efforts to improve equity, diversity and inclusion in faculty recruitment, advancement, and retention practices and in the development of management training for academic leaders and supervisors. She has contributed her expertise to various campus committees in her role as AVC, including co-chairing the Senate Administration Faculty Equity Review Workgroup and the Senate Administration Workgroup on Bullying.

Drs. Hodgkiss and Wall have made lasting and meaningful contributions to our campus, for which my predecessors and I are sincerely thankful. I personally owe them a debt of gratitude for their collegiality, sound advice, and dedicated service during my first year as Executive Vice Chancellor. It has truly been a great pleasure to work with both of them so closely. Please join me in thanking Drs. Hodgkiss and Wall for their exceptional contributions to UC San Diego in their roles as administrators, faculty, and community members.

An internal search for a full-time Sr. Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (Sr. AVC-AA) will be launched shortly, the scope of which will include many of the combined responsibilities of these two half-time positions.

Elizabeth H. Simmons Executive Vice Chancellor