Post by fox94 on Jan 10, 2023 18:15:18 GMT -5
Dear Marist alumni,
I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Catherine (Katie) Gunther Kodat as Marist College’s Provost and Dean of Faculty. Dr. Kodat joins us from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, a Top 50 school in the nation for “Best Undergraduate Teaching,” based on U.S. News rankings. She is currently on sabbatical and served as Provost and Dean of Faculty for the five years prior, overseeing all academic affairs, a conservatory of music, a residential liberal arts college, and 182 full-time faculty.
Dr. Kodat will assume her new role as Provost and Dean of Faculty on May 1, but will be on campus as early as mid-February so she can participate in the strategic planning process and begin transitioning into her role. Marist’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously in support of Dr. Kodat and her selection follows an extensive national search that included an extremely broad pool of talented candidates.
This new leadership role will report directly to me and serve on the President’s Advisory Council and Cabinet. As Provost and Dean of Faculty, Dr. Kodat will serve as Marist’s chief academic officer and lead the vision and strategy for an academic portfolio that includes innovative curriculum, high-impact practices, and valuable experiential learning opportunities both in and out of the classroom. She will lead our expert faculty and ensure they have the appropriate resources, pedagogical support, and alignment to Marist’s academic strategy, and also will oversee the teams across student academic affairs to continue producing the stellar outcomes that have become a hallmark of Marist graduates.
I’d like to take a moment to thank Dr. Thomas Wermuth for his tremendous leadership for 16 years as Marist’s Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty. As I noted in my July memo to the Marist community, Thom played a central role in leading the institution through the pandemic and ensuring academic continuity for our students. He also worked closely with the deans and faculty to advance a number of Marist’s signature academic experiences and continues to lead the College’s Middle States accreditation process. Thom will take a well-deserved sabbatical before returning to the faculty for the 2024-25 academic year. I thank him for his many contributions and look forward to celebrating his accomplishments after the official transition.
Getting to Know Our New Provost
Dr. Kodat is a lifelong educator whose own academic journey and early career were shaped through a combination of pre-professional training and a liberal arts foundation. She is no stranger to the Hudson Valley, having attended high school in Albany, and worked her way through college to earn a B.A. in English at the University of Baltimore. She also earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in English at Boston University.
She describes her core values as a professor and mentor as being forged during the 17 years she spent on the faculty at Hamilton College, rising to the rank of professor of English and American Studies and later chairing the English and Creative Writing Department. Dr. Kodat also gained valuable international experience with impressive appointments at the University of Oxford’s Linacre College and as a Fulbright Lecturer at EÖtvÖs Loránd Tudományegyetem in Budapest, Hungary, one of the country’s largest and most prestigious public research universities.
However, academia was not Dr. Kodat’s first venture. One of her earliest jobs was as a reporter at The Baltimore Sun covering housing, community development, policing, and LGBTQ+ rights. This role, and her experiences witnessing issues of systemic injustice and structural racism firsthand, laid the foundation for and sparked her personal devotion to advancing policies and reforms focused on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). She has since carried those lessons into her scholarship and DEI sits at the center of her work in college leadership. For example:
• At both Lawrence University and Lewis & Clark College, where she served as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Kodat led efforts to refine hiring guidelines for faculty searches that produced more diverse applicant pools and ultimately the hiring of more faculty of color;
• She secured a grant from the Mellon Foundation to reform Lawrence’s reappointment, tenure, and promotion practices to better support under-represented faculty; and
• She helped adopt more inclusive pedagogies and universal design for learning in courses in the humanities, the humanistic social sciences, and natural sciences and secured significant donor support for a new Science Learning Commons at Lawrence.
Collaboration best defines Dr. Kodat’s leadership style and personal character. She has had success throughout her career partnering closely with faculty to advance their academic needs while also working closely with fellow administrators to drive institutional priorities. Dr. Kodat has:
• Partnered with Lawrence’s Faculty Committee on University Governance to provide guidance and leadership in adopting pandemic modifications to academic programs;
• Supervised efforts to build a pathway program providing ESL instruction and a tailored curriculum for international students;
• Represented Lawrence at the American Talent Initiative, in which Marist is also a member, to give more Pell-eligible students access to higher education; and
• Teamed up with Development staff to determine academic priorities for Lawrence’s Be The Light! $220 million comprehensive campaign, which finished $12 million above goal.
Thank You to Our Search Committee
Thank you to the three search committee co-chairs and the other 14 members of the search committee. This was a comprehensive, competitive, and intensive process that produced a broad, very strong, and diverse candidate pool. I am grateful for how engaged the committee was throughout this process and that they brought a diversity of campus-wide perspectives and voices to the search process. In addition, I’d like to thank other members of our community who met with four finalists for this position, including the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees, members of the FAC and AAC, the President’s Advisory Council, and student leaders from SGA. The inclusion of a wide range of perspectives is what helped produce a great result for us.
Lastly, something became quite apparent throughout the search process: Marist’s growing stature and momentum is positioning us as a nationally attractive institution and a place where people want to be. We heard it from the candidates in their enthusiasm and eagerness to join a college that many expressed is uniquely positioned to thrive, and to lead higher education through this moment of national urgency. This is indeed an exciting time to be at Marist College.
Please join me in welcoming Dr. Kodat, her husband Alex, and her adult-aged triplets Axel, Dexter, and Matthias to the Marist family.
Sincerely,
Kevin
I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Catherine (Katie) Gunther Kodat as Marist College’s Provost and Dean of Faculty. Dr. Kodat joins us from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, a Top 50 school in the nation for “Best Undergraduate Teaching,” based on U.S. News rankings. She is currently on sabbatical and served as Provost and Dean of Faculty for the five years prior, overseeing all academic affairs, a conservatory of music, a residential liberal arts college, and 182 full-time faculty.
Dr. Kodat will assume her new role as Provost and Dean of Faculty on May 1, but will be on campus as early as mid-February so she can participate in the strategic planning process and begin transitioning into her role. Marist’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously in support of Dr. Kodat and her selection follows an extensive national search that included an extremely broad pool of talented candidates.
This new leadership role will report directly to me and serve on the President’s Advisory Council and Cabinet. As Provost and Dean of Faculty, Dr. Kodat will serve as Marist’s chief academic officer and lead the vision and strategy for an academic portfolio that includes innovative curriculum, high-impact practices, and valuable experiential learning opportunities both in and out of the classroom. She will lead our expert faculty and ensure they have the appropriate resources, pedagogical support, and alignment to Marist’s academic strategy, and also will oversee the teams across student academic affairs to continue producing the stellar outcomes that have become a hallmark of Marist graduates.
I’d like to take a moment to thank Dr. Thomas Wermuth for his tremendous leadership for 16 years as Marist’s Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty. As I noted in my July memo to the Marist community, Thom played a central role in leading the institution through the pandemic and ensuring academic continuity for our students. He also worked closely with the deans and faculty to advance a number of Marist’s signature academic experiences and continues to lead the College’s Middle States accreditation process. Thom will take a well-deserved sabbatical before returning to the faculty for the 2024-25 academic year. I thank him for his many contributions and look forward to celebrating his accomplishments after the official transition.
Getting to Know Our New Provost
Dr. Kodat is a lifelong educator whose own academic journey and early career were shaped through a combination of pre-professional training and a liberal arts foundation. She is no stranger to the Hudson Valley, having attended high school in Albany, and worked her way through college to earn a B.A. in English at the University of Baltimore. She also earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in English at Boston University.
She describes her core values as a professor and mentor as being forged during the 17 years she spent on the faculty at Hamilton College, rising to the rank of professor of English and American Studies and later chairing the English and Creative Writing Department. Dr. Kodat also gained valuable international experience with impressive appointments at the University of Oxford’s Linacre College and as a Fulbright Lecturer at EÖtvÖs Loránd Tudományegyetem in Budapest, Hungary, one of the country’s largest and most prestigious public research universities.
However, academia was not Dr. Kodat’s first venture. One of her earliest jobs was as a reporter at The Baltimore Sun covering housing, community development, policing, and LGBTQ+ rights. This role, and her experiences witnessing issues of systemic injustice and structural racism firsthand, laid the foundation for and sparked her personal devotion to advancing policies and reforms focused on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). She has since carried those lessons into her scholarship and DEI sits at the center of her work in college leadership. For example:
• At both Lawrence University and Lewis & Clark College, where she served as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Kodat led efforts to refine hiring guidelines for faculty searches that produced more diverse applicant pools and ultimately the hiring of more faculty of color;
• She secured a grant from the Mellon Foundation to reform Lawrence’s reappointment, tenure, and promotion practices to better support under-represented faculty; and
• She helped adopt more inclusive pedagogies and universal design for learning in courses in the humanities, the humanistic social sciences, and natural sciences and secured significant donor support for a new Science Learning Commons at Lawrence.
Collaboration best defines Dr. Kodat’s leadership style and personal character. She has had success throughout her career partnering closely with faculty to advance their academic needs while also working closely with fellow administrators to drive institutional priorities. Dr. Kodat has:
• Partnered with Lawrence’s Faculty Committee on University Governance to provide guidance and leadership in adopting pandemic modifications to academic programs;
• Supervised efforts to build a pathway program providing ESL instruction and a tailored curriculum for international students;
• Represented Lawrence at the American Talent Initiative, in which Marist is also a member, to give more Pell-eligible students access to higher education; and
• Teamed up with Development staff to determine academic priorities for Lawrence’s Be The Light! $220 million comprehensive campaign, which finished $12 million above goal.
Thank You to Our Search Committee
Thank you to the three search committee co-chairs and the other 14 members of the search committee. This was a comprehensive, competitive, and intensive process that produced a broad, very strong, and diverse candidate pool. I am grateful for how engaged the committee was throughout this process and that they brought a diversity of campus-wide perspectives and voices to the search process. In addition, I’d like to thank other members of our community who met with four finalists for this position, including the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees, members of the FAC and AAC, the President’s Advisory Council, and student leaders from SGA. The inclusion of a wide range of perspectives is what helped produce a great result for us.
Lastly, something became quite apparent throughout the search process: Marist’s growing stature and momentum is positioning us as a nationally attractive institution and a place where people want to be. We heard it from the candidates in their enthusiasm and eagerness to join a college that many expressed is uniquely positioned to thrive, and to lead higher education through this moment of national urgency. This is indeed an exciting time to be at Marist College.
Please join me in welcoming Dr. Kodat, her husband Alex, and her adult-aged triplets Axel, Dexter, and Matthias to the Marist family.
Sincerely,
Kevin
