In a pair of recently announced leadership adjustments in undergraduate studies, a longtime advocate for undergraduate student success is returning to a research focus and the top international affairs lead is broadening his scope.
Lisa Freinkel, dean of undergraduate studies, is returning to the faculty to pursue new interests that include collaboration with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and a forthcoming book on the relationship between archetype and mindfulness. Dennis Galvan, vice provost for international affairs, will serve as the interim dean of undergraduate studies while also retaining his current role in international affairs.
“Let me first thank Lisa for her outstanding leadership and dedication to our undergraduate students,” said Jayanth Banavar, provost and senior vice president. “She first gave voice to the focus on student success in 2013, when she convened the Academic Advising Task Force. The initiative gained momentum to better coordinate campus advising.”
Banavar added, “Under Lisa’s leadership, undergraduate studies has gained new coherence and visibility. Many high-impact programs have been launched, like Common Reading. Key partnerships have been developed as well, including most recently collaboration with the Division of Equity and Inclusion around academic advising and retention.”
The provost also noted that while Galvan has focused largely on international students, much of his work has touched all undergraduate students.
“Dennis oversees study abroad operations, which provides more than 1,200 students a year transformative global education experiences,” Banavar said. “Additionally, he helped to launch our rapidly growing international internship service, GlobalWorks, and through fundraising brought in $4.5 million to support undergraduate international experiences.”
Banavar also pointed to the new Freshman Interest Group that Galvan helped launch.
“Just in the last year, Dennis spearheaded the creation of the Global Bridge iFIG, a first-year curriculum linking general education, close advising and English language booster courses for international students with low (Test of English as a Foreign Language) scores. This initiative builds upon his work on the Academic Residential Community in the Global Scholars Hall, which now draws first-year students to the intersection of language learning and study abroad.”
The search for a permanent replacement is expected to begin in the next few weeks.
— By Tobin J. Klinger, University Communications