SUBJECT:

Assistant Vice Chancellor - Academic Personnel

After ten years of outstanding service as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Personnel, Jennefer Collins has announced her decision to retire from UCSD effective January 3, 2008. Jenny has accepted the position of Vice President for Academic and Administrative Services at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. She will be greatly missed as a friend, colleague, and mentor by many across the campus.

Jenny joined UCSD in 1978 and spent 19 years as a business officer, many of them in the Department of Biology (now the Division of Biological Sciences). In 1995, she became the first recipient of the Betsy Faught Award, which recognizes excellence and outstanding achievement in the management of General Campus academic units. In 1997, Jenny joined the Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Personnel.

Her tenure has coincided with tremendous growth in the size of the UCSD faculty, and under her leadership, the academic personnel program was restructured to follow a new service model based on decentralization of authority for academic personnel actions. The result was a significant improvement in the quality, timeliness, and efficiency of academic personnel processes. The restructuring also made it possible for Academic Personnel Services to lead the way on important initiatives, such as the expansion of family-friendly policies and benefits for faculty and the development of Academic Personnel On-Line, which will eventually replace much of the paper processing of academic review files and other personnel actions. Academic Personnel Services was also able to provide new programs and services for academics, such as the Partner Opportunities Program and the Southern California Higher Education Recruitment Consortium, and to focus on providing essential training and support for staff, including development of a series of classes on academic personnel topics that is intended to become a certificate program. Throughout her tenure, Jenny has worked tirelessly to ensure that Academic Personnel Services meets UCSD's ever-changing needs.

I expect to begin a search for a new Assistant Vice Chancellor shortly. Until a permanent successor is named, Kristi Petruzzelli, currently Director of Academic Personnel Policy Development and Analysis, has agreed to serve as Interim Assistant Vice Chancellor. I am grateful to Kristi for taking over this very important position.

Please join me in offering heartfelt thanks to Assistant Vice Chancellor Collins for her exemplary service and in wishing her the best in her future endeavors.

Paul W. Drake Senior Vice Chancellor - Academic Affairs