Given his more than five years of dedicated and impactful service, it is bittersweet to announce the departure of Carlos Jensen, Associate Vice Chancellor for Educational Innovation (AVC-EI), who has accepted a position as Vice Provost for Student Success and Dean for Undergraduate Academic Affairs at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County. His last day at UC San Diego will be July 31, 2025.
As AVC-EI, Jensen provided strategic leadership to advance education and innovation at UC San Diego, including the implementation and improvement of curricular analytics to help departments close equity gaps and help all students progress toward their degrees by minimizing conflicts and bottlenecks and the creation of Discover UC San Diego, a program to provide equitable access to high school students to take UC San Diego classes online for college credit. He oversaw the Teaching + Learning Commons, in partnership with its faculty director, to provide instructional development for educators and comprehensive academic support for students. He also played a key leadership role in the Academic Affairs response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, Jensen frequently collaborated with university leadership, faculty, the Academic Senate and staff to further develop the culture of innovation on campus that is shaping the future for our students through the support of AI adoption, development of new digital strategies and the shepherding in of the new student information system, Triton Student System.
Jensen holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology and also worked as a faculty member in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering in the Jacobs School of Engineering during his tenure on our campus. Prior to joining UC San Diego, Jensen served as Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs in the College of Engineering at Oregon State University (OSU) and was a tenured faculty member in OSU’s School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Please join me in thanking Carlos for his important, impactful work at UC San Diego. Our campus community has benefited from his expertise, perspective, and creativity.
I would also like to congratulate Christine Alvarado on her appointment as Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for Educational Innovation. Alvarado, the Paul R. Kube Endowed Chair and teaching professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, has taught at UC San Diego since 2012, and has served in several key leadership roles supporting student success and educational innovation, including currently serving as Associate Dean in the Division of Undergraduate Education and previously serving as Acting Dean in the Division of Undergraduate Education and Vice Chair for Undergraduate Affairs in Computer Science and Engineering.
Additionally, Alvarado founded the CSE Early Research Scholars Program, an inclusive research apprenticeship for early computing undergraduates which has engaged nearly 350 early undergraduates who are typically underrepresented in computer science research, and she has also served as the Holistic Teaching Evaluation Oversight Committee co-chair. She holds a master’s in electrical engineering and computer science and a doctorate in computer science from MIT. We are thankful to have Christine serving in this role at this critical juncture; an Interim Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education will be appointed soon. A national search for a permanent AVC-EI will commence in the fall.
Sincerely,
