Dear Colleagues,
I am pleased to announce the appointment of Jennifer Brach as Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, effective September 1.
As Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, Jennifer will report to Lu-in Wang, Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs. She will focus on several important faculty affairs priorities, including implementation of the Interfolio platform, expansion of the Provost’s Advisory Council on Tenure and Promotion (PACTP), and development of the next collective bargaining agreement with our bargaining unit faculty members.
Jennifer will also engage broadly across the University’s academic and administrative units. Through this work, she will contribute to a range of faculty affairs matters, including faculty appointments, promotion and tenure, sabbaticals and leaves; implementation of the faculty collective bargaining agreement; faculty appeals related to promotion and tenure; resolution of faculty grievances; and interpretation and application of University policies related to faculty.
Jennifer brings to this role a distinguished record of research, leadership, and service at the University. An accomplished researcher, she has authored more than 120 peer-reviewed publications and has received funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) for more than 20 years. She is perhaps best known for the development and testing of On the Move: Group Exercise for Improved Mobility in Older Adults, an evidence-based chronic disease management and fall-prevention program. She is also the Director of the Pittsburgh Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center.
Jennifer earned both her Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Science degrees from the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests include aging, mobility, gait, physical activity, and exercise interventions. Her work has been recognized with the New Investigator Award from the American Geriatrics Society in 2005, the Excellence in Research Award from the Section on Geriatrics of the American Physical Therapy Association in 2008, and the Presidential Poster Award in Rehabilitation from the American Geriatrics Society in 2009.
Jennifer’s deep understanding of the faculty experience, combined with her record of scholarship and engagement, will be a tremendous asset to our faculty affairs work. I am confident she will be an important partner as we continue to strengthen our support for faculty and advance our shared academic mission.
Please join me in congratulating Jennifer and welcoming her to this new role.
Regards,
Joe
Joseph J. McCarthy
Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor
William Kepler Whiteford Professor
University of Pittsburgh