February 2, 2022

Dear Faculty and Staff,

I am pleased to announce that I am appointing a 16-member search committee co-chaired by Drs. Catherine Horn and Ramanan Krishnamoorti to begin our national search for the next Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs/Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost for the UH System/UH. The Search Committee will be assisted by SP&A Executive Search and will complete its work during the spring semester with the hope of filling the position by summer 2022. I thank the committee members for undertaking this very important task. The full list of committee members is below.

Co-chairs:

• Catherine Horn, Professor and Chair, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, College of Education
• Ramanan Krishnamoorti, Chief Energy Officer and Professor, William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cullen College of Engineering.

Members:

• Vallabh Das, Faculty Senate President; Professor and Chair, Department of Vision Sciences, College of Optometry
• Fleurette Fernando, Instructional Assistant Professor, Department of Arts Leadership, Katherine G. McGovern College of the Arts
• Scott Gilbertson, Professor, Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
• Athena Jackson, Dean, UH Libraries
• Norman Johnson, Professor and Chair, Department of Decision and Information Sciences, C. T. Bauer College of Business
• Elias Loria, President, Graduate and Professional Student Association
• Fatima Merchant, Professor and Chair, Department of Engineering Technology, College of Technology
• Jay Neal, Associate Professor, Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management; Associate Vice President, Academic Affairs and Chief Operating Officer for UH at Sugar Land and UH at Katy
• Dan O’Connor, Dean and Professor, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
• Jessica Roberts, Professor, UH Law Center
• Mario Romero-Ortega, Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cullen College of Engineering
• Donell Young, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students
• Ruiwen Zhang, Professor, Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy

University of Houston System Representative

• Loren Blanchard, President, University of Houston-Downtown

I am charging the Search Committee to (a) develop a strong and diverse pool of candidates, (b) screen eligible applicants, (c) invite finalists for campus interviews and (d) provide its assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of each interviewee. I have asked the committee to seek your input in completing its task and I ask you to please help them create a strong and diverse pool of candidates by nominating qualified individuals. The chairs of the committee are committed to keeping you informed with regular updates on the process and progress of the search.

I would like to remind you that this position is critically important in ensuring the continued transformation of the University of Houston and the UH System. We need a leader and a partner who believes in shared governance, is committed to student success, understands the importance of impactful research and is not afraid of our aspirations. Please help me and the Search Committee in finding such a leader by nominating strong candidates and meeting with finalists.

Thank you for your interest and engagement.

Warm regards,

Renu Khator