Chicago City Wire

Jeannine Diddle Uzzi, Ph.D., has been named the first institutional vice president of academic affairs at Adler University. As the chief academic officer, she will oversee all educational facets of the University’s three-campus system, including advancing curricular, pedagogical, and scholarly enterprises. She will begin August 29.

Uzzi’s hire is the first step in the University’s restructuring of Academic Affairs, and she will lead efforts to restructure faculty governance, strengthen academic leadership and infrastructure, and implement new strategies for student affairs.

“Throughout her career, Jeannine has been dedicated to student success, academics and scholarly work, and she brings a wealth of experience as an administrator and faculty member to her new role at Adler,” said President Raymond Crossman. “Jeannine will be responsible for driving academic excellence across our Chicago, Vancouver and Online campuses, and will play an integral role in helping us continue efforts to reach our vision of becoming the leading academic institution advancing socially responsible practice, healthy communities and a more just society.”

Uzzi joins Adler from the University of Southern Maine, where she has served as the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs since 2016. Hired as the interim provost in 2015, her portfolio expanded over the years to include student affairs, public safety, and most recently, athletics.

An accomplished researcher, writer, and speaker, Uzzi has published two books and scholarly works in a number of publications. She has also presented at conferences across the country and received multiple grants, awards, and fellowships, including the Certificate of Achievement from the Maine Military and Community Network and NACADA’s Michael C. Holden Pacesetter Award for exemplary support for academic advising.

Before returning to the University of Southern Maine for her most recent role, Uzzi was the director of faculty programs for the Associated Colleges of the South, where she identified, developed, and facilitated collaborative grants and other partnership programs among the consortium’s 16 independent colleges. Prior, she served as chair of the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literature and an associate professor of classics at the University of Southern Maine. She also taught at Whitman College as an assistant professor of classics and general studies and at Duke University as an instructor.

Uzzi earned her Bachelor of Arts in classical languages at Hamilton College and completed her doctorate in classical studies at Duke University. She is also an alumna of the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome, the ACE Institute for New Chief Academic Officers, and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Millennium Leadership Institute.

She currently serves as board president for Gym Dandies Children’s Circus, is a member of the steering committee for Portland ConnectEd. and is an active member of Reading Groups for Combat Veterans through the Main Humanities Council. 

Original source can be found here