Sheerer named interim provost, administrative changes announced
GREENVILLE, NC (June 22, 2007) — Dr. Marilyn Sheerer, vice chancellor for student life at East Carolina University and a veteran campus leader, has been named interim provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs for a two-year period, beginning July 1.
Chancellor Steve Ballard said, “Marilyn Sheerer is one of the ablest higher education administrators in the country. She has a well-earned reputation for innovation, effectiveness and decisiveness, and I am delighted that she has accepted this new assignment.”
Ballard said Sheerer’s new position is part of a number of organizational and personnel changes designed to provide an enhanced student experience at ECU. “Marilyn has my complete confidence in her ability to carry out the changes that we need to make to move ECU forward,” he said.
The university will conduct a national search for a provost, beginning in the fall of 2008, and Sheerer is welcome to be a candidate, Ballard said.
The chancellor said the university’s “new directions emphasize integration, efficiency, the whole student, the concept of a leadership university, and new signature programs that speak to the core mission of ECU.”
“It is time for ECU to speak boldly about where it is going and what it wants to accomplish,” Ballard said. “We must create vehicles and accountability measures to enhance quality, create change and respond to the needs of Eastern North Carolina.”
Ballard said the changes are in keeping with the university’s strategic initiatives as well as those of Erskine Bowles, president of the University of North Carolina system.
Other changes announced by Ballard include:
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* The divisions of academic affairs and student life will be combined into a single unit under the supervision of the provost. A new position of vice provost for student life will be created to provide day-to-day oversight for functions in that area.
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* Dr. Judith I. Bailey, a former president of Western Michigan University and Northern Michigan University, has been named senior executive director of enrollment management for a one-year term. This is a new position, and she will be charged with developing initiatives to attract, enroll and retain students at ECU, and she will oversee the offices of admissions, financial aid, registrar, and first-year center, which includes new-student orientation and advising and freshman seminars. Those operations were previously housed in the academic affairs division. Bailey, a former professor of education and a former provost, will not be a candidate for the permanent position, which will report to the chancellor.
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* Claudia McCann, director of institutional research and testing, has been appointed interim director of the office of institutional planning, research and effectiveness, which will move from the academic affairs division to the chancellor’s division.
Sheerer joined ECU as a faculty member in 1996 and was named dean of education in 1998. Under her leadership, the College of Education won several national awards. She has been vice chancellor for student life since last summer, and she has also served as interim vice chancellor for university advancement. As provost, she succeeds Dr. James LeRoy Smith, who announced this month that he will step down from the position to return to teaching.
Sheerer said, “ECU is a dynamic, exciting institution. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to work closely with our superb faculty and deans as we enter our second century. It is because of them that we will continue to be able to make such a difference for this region and this state.”
Sheerer holds a bachelor’s degree f