By Yetnaleci Maya, Feb. 8, 2022
After serving as the vice provost and dean for Undergraduate Education at the University of California, Riverside, Jennifer Brown will step into the position of vice president for Academic Affairs and provost at Cal Poly Pomona, beginning April 1.
Although Brown is not taking office until then, she is preparing for her role by getting to know the campus community and engaging with the administration which has been providing her with insight on current projects and aiding her transition from the position she currently holds at UC Riverside.
Because Brown will oversee the nine academic colleges, 400 staff members and a budget of over $126 million, she wants to ensure she is supporting both faculty and students.
“As I come in, I’ll get to hear some of the nuances and the different things, like the challenges and opportunities, which I think are maybe the core things in understanding the institution, respecting the culture and really diving into what do students, faculty and staff need,” said Brown.
Brown will also be working closely with Associate Provost for Student Success Terri Gomez to realize goals in reducing equity gaps. As a leader, she wants to understand what CPP’s core values are in order to help guide her decisions. Her focus on equity stems from some of her own core values and moving forward she wants to continue to understand what equity means in the context of CPP.
During the search for the position, the search committee prioritized candidates that would bring innovative ideas and creativity to the table due to the transition from a virtual learning environment.
Brown holds a doctorate degree in horticulture with an emphasis in marketing and consumer behavior from Michigan State University, with which she brings a different perspective into her position as provost. At UC Riverside she also helped cultivate a successful mentorship program with the help of her administration and faculty.
Discussing the transition in leadership, Interim Provost Iris Levine said, “Dr. Brown has a lot of expertise in the various areas that affect Academic Affairs, and one of the things that I look forward to in hearing more from her is her understanding of instructional technology. She has a wide background in this and so I look forward to hearing how she might help us to improve in these areas because I think that is something that Academic Affairs desperately needs.”
Brown also wants to consider how the circumstances of the pandemic have affected the student population.
“It’s important to think about how student lives have changed during the pandemic and think about having a careful balance between the learn by doing model and trying to figure out how virtual learning can help to increase student success,” said Brown. “I think it’ll be a really delicate balance. I can see hybridity as a way to marry the learn by doing but also to create different opportunities. I think about student-parents, challenges with childcare. I think about folks who may have needed to take on additional work responsibilities, so I’m thinking about how we can use virtual learning to help them.”
During the provost search committee forums held in December, Brown described working to reduce and eliminate equity gaps in higher education as her “north star.”
Chair of the Academic Senate Jocelyn Pacleb, who served on the search committee, believes that Brown’s vision for CPP is to continue to enhance and build on the strengths that the university has already founded.
“I think that when she talks about that ‘north star,’ it’s not just her doing that,” said Pacleb. “It’s having the team, having the people, and when I say people, it’s not just administration. It’s also faculty, staff and students that are a part of that north star. So, I think that to envision and imagine what that looks like is really important for continuing to move Cal Poly Pomona to meet the needs of our students.”
Over the next few weeks, Brown will continue to hold weekly meetings with Levine to prepare for her first semester serving as provost.
“I’m always looking to improve all of the wonderful things that have happened already,” said Brown. “I’m looking forward to embracing those and moving them to the next level with the support of the faculty, staff and the students.”