SUBJECT:

Appointment of Muir College Provost

It is my pleasure to announce that Professor Susan Smith has been appointed as the next Provost of John Muir College.

Professor Smith is a member of the faculty of the Department of Visual Arts and former Department Chair. She has served on a wide array of campus-wide and departmental committees including the Department of Visual Arts Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, the Muir College Executive Committee, and the Academic Senate General Campus Subcommittee on Research. She is currently serving on the Search Committee for the Dean of the Division of Arts and Humanities.

Susan joined the UCSD faculty in the fall of 1987 after having taught in the Department of Visual Arts as a visiting lecturer on several occasions. Professor Smith has been awarded numerous grants and awards, including a UCI Humanities Research Institute Fellowship for participation in the collaborative research project “Theorizing Visual Culture: Discourse, Discipline, Pedagogy.” Her book, The Power of Women: A Topos in Medieval Literature and Art, was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 1995. She is presently writing a book on the subject of medieval women as viewers of art. Professor Smith is a highly regarded educator and administrator whose current research interests include secular art of the Middle Ages and issues involving the cognitive function of vision in medieval theology and art theory. She has also worked as a labor arbitrator and has co-authored two books and an educational film on labor relations.

Professor Smith’s academic and administrative experience, together with her strong commitment to undergraduate education and UCSD’s college system, make her exceptionally well suited to provide leadership as Provost of Muir College.

I am delighted that Susan has accepted this important and challenging position. I hope that you will join me in offering her your best wishes and support. Her appointment will become effective July 1, 2005.

Marye Anne Fox Chancellor