After Vice President of Student Affairs William Banis announced his retirement, the university began a search for his replacement. Today, Provost Daniel Linzer announced the hire of Patricia Telles-Irvin, the current vice president of student affairs at the University of Florida, to fill the position, effective this summer. “We thank Bill for his long and terrific service to the university,” Linzer said.
Dr. Telles-Irvin holds a bachelor’s degree in education from Duke University and doctorate in counseling psychology from Boston University. Linzer said she stood out because of her experience at a major research university and “how she interacts with the students themselves and how she brings about positive change that relates to student experience.”
The university has recently been engaged in school-wide strategic planning and identified building community on campus as an important issue, according to Linzer. He hopes to bring together undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and alumni, and Telles-Irvin will play a large role in that process.
“In the area of community, we’ve identified a number of ways in which we really need to do better, and her ideas and her record of success give us a lot of confidence that she can help achieve those goals,” Linzer said. “We expect a lot from her.”