Chancellor's Office
Quinn Administration, 03, 0054A
MEMORANDUM
FROM: J. Keith Motley, Chancellor
TO: Members of the Campus Community
DATE: May 13, 2008
SUBJECT: Interim Provost
I am pleased to inform you that I have asked Professor Winston Langley to serve as interim provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs of the University of Massachusetts Boston; he has graciously agreed. In making this decision, I was influenced by many considerations. I wanted someone who is a scholar, who respects and has the respect of the faculty; someone who understands the administrative and organizational functions of the provost’s and chancellor’s offices, as well as the importance of the relationship between both; someone who is familiar with the strategic and master plans and can help me continue the implementation process; someone who interacts well with all constituencies of the university community; someone who shares my ambitious plans for this campus, in particular my ambition to develop the student-centered, urban public university of the new century; someone who can pursue an aggressive research agenda for the university without sacrificing the important features that shaped its identity before it became a research university; and someone committed to long-term faculty and student development.
Professor Langley fits all of the above considerations and more. For instance, I know he will work well and has experience working with the other vice chancellors, the deans, the President’s Office, and the Board of Trustees. He also has a broad academic background (he has degrees in biology, history, political science and international relations, and law), so he will be able to engage the wide-ranging and complex goings-on of this comprehensive research university with comprehensive understanding. Finally, he will uphold the exacting academic standards which are among the defining attributes of all great universities. He has served ably as associate chancellor in recent months, and he will be much missed in my office, but I am confident that he will serve all of us as interim provost with the greatest distinction.
I thank you for your many e-mails, letters, and oral discussions, and for the frank and always sympathetic advice you have given me. I am grateful for several recommendations of senior faculty to serve as interim provost—recommendations of talented individuals who clearly have the attributes to fill leadership roles during this interim period and beyond. I look forward to your continuing support and hope that you will give the same support to Professor Langley. Provost Fonteyn has assured me that he will work with Professor Langley to ensure the smoothest possible transition.