To: All Faculty & All Academic Professionals & All Civil Service Staff
           <everybody@illinois.edu> 
    From: "President Michael Hogan" <presmike@uillinois.edu>

Reply-To: presmike@uillinois.edu
 Subject: University Administration staff changes

Dear Colleagues,

Since 2007, Mrinalini (Meena) C. Rao has served the University of 
Illinois with great distinction as Vice President for Academic Affairs, 
the chief academic officer of the University. She has been instrumental 
in fostering cross campus dialog among the three campuses in a number of 
ventures. These range from diversity to setting academic policies for 
research integrity and conflict of commitment and interest. A scholar of 
physiology and biophysics, Dr. Rao maintained an active research program 
in epithelial cell and molecular physiology over the last dozen years 
while serving in senior administrative roles, first on the Chicago campus 
and then in University Administration.

Dr. Rao has decided to focus her efforts fully on research and teaching 
in her role as a Professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics 
and Department of Medicine, and a Fellow of the Honors College at UIC. 
Meena will continue to serve as VP-Academic Affairs until a successor is 
in place, which I expect will be in August. A search committee will be 
formed soon.

The Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs is multi-faceted, 
and Meena's experience, professionalism, and personal dedication have 
helped the office and the University respond to the many challenges we 
have faced in recent years. Reporting to the president and working with 
campus chancellors and provosts, Meena and her staff have helped define 
and shape strategic academic and budgetary priorities and policies for 
the University. They have supported academic initiatives that help to 
differentiate the University of Illinois, including the University of 
Illinois Press, the Institute of Government and Public Affairs (IGPA), 
University-Wide Student Programs, University Outreach and Public 
Services. She has been a key University liaison to the Illinois Board of 
Higher Education, a member of the Diversifying of Faculty of Illinois 
Board, and as VPAA has provided critical support for the work of the 
Board of Trustees Committee on Academic and Student Affairs.
 
In addition to her support of faculty issues and University operations, a 
notable contribution of Meena's tenure as VPAA has been her dedication to 
actualize diversity as a fundamental strength of the University of 
Illinois and initiate a continuing inter-campus dialog with key scholars 
and practitioners. These efforts have led to the establishment of a 
biannual inter-campus diversity summit series, a biannual President's 
Travel Award for Research in Diversity, and an improved contextualization 
of diversity issues for the Board of Trustees through regular 
presentations and briefing documents.
 
Prior to joining the University Administration, Dr. Rao served the UIC 
campus as Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs from 2002 to 2007 and as 
Associate Dean of the Graduate College from 1999 to 2002. A mentor to 
students, faculty, and administrative colleagues, Meena's successful 
collaborations across our three campuses has been a hallmark of her 
administrative service to the University of Illinois, and she has been an 
important and valued colleague to me.

In another administrative change announced previously, after three years 
of distinguished service as Vice President of the Office for Technology 
and Economic Development (now the Office of the Vice President for 
Research), Avijit Ghosh has moved into the role of Special Assistant to 
the President effective March 1.

Reporting directly to the president and working closely with senior 
administrators and other stakeholders, Dr. Ghosh will help to develop and 
implement strategies for reducing costs and improving the effectiveness 
of University-wide administrative services. In particular, Avijit will 
continue to serve as the coordinator of implementation efforts on behalf 
of the Administrative Review and Restructuring (ARR) steering committee, 
a role he has filled since last July. He will work closely with the 
implementation teams appointed by the steering committee, as well as 
campus-based groups, in order to provide a single point of coordination 
for the overall implementation effort. With more than $5 million in 
savings realized through ARR reforms already this year and another $5 
million anticipated by the end of this fiscal year, Avijit has 
demonstrated exceptional leadership in improving and streamlining our 
business processes.
 
This is an important role that President Emeritus Stan Ikenberry 
temporarily performed at my request until he returned to the faculty. As 
a member of the president's cabinet and policy council, Avijit will 
contribute to the discussions of ARR implementation groups and lead other 
projects, especially initiatives facilitating the creation of appropriate 
consultative processes to prioritize projects, budgets and investments 
for administrative functions.

Prior to serving as VP-Technology and Economic Development, Avijit was 
the Dean and a Professor in the College of Business on the Urbana campus 
from 2001 to 2008. I am pleased that Dr. Ghosh will continue to be a part 
of our senior leadership team. He will serve full-time as special 
assistant until next August 15, after which he will divide his time 
equally between this role and as a faculty member in the College of 
Business at Urbana.

Please join me in thanking Meena Rao and Avijit Ghosh for their 
exceptional service to the University administration and in wishing them 
future success.

Sincerely,
Michael J. Hogan    
This mailing approved by:
The Office of the President

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