New Senior Vice Presidents to Advance Our Mission

September 3, 2020

Members of the Rutgers Community,
 
I am pleased to announce important changes to our central administration that will better position Rutgers to address urgent priorities now and in the coming years. I am creating three new senior vice presidencies, effective September 8.
 

The first is the position Senior Vice President for Equity. As I stated in my introductory message on July 1, Rutgers can be a leader on the national stage by redefining how and where we find excellence. This work is born out of a commitment to diversity in all of its forms. Establishing this office and making it an integral part of the university’s central leadership sends a clear signal of our institutional values and investments. To fill this position, I have appointed Enobong (Anna) Branch, who has been serving as Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. Dr. Branch, a professor of sociology whose scholarship explores racial and gender inequality in work and occupations, formerly served as the associate chancellor for equity and inclusion and chief diversity officer at the University of Massachusetts–Amherst. At my request, Dr. Branch has already been working on an equity audit of the central administration at Rutgers that will be shared with the university community later this month.
 

I have also appointed Andrea Conklin Bueschel as Senior Vice President for Administration and my Chief of Staff. She will play a critical role in the coordination of the university-wide offices and oversee the operations of the President’s Office and the Office of the Secretary. Dr. Bueschel worked very closely with me at Northwestern University, where she served as associate provost for strategy and policy and taught a graduate course in higher education policy. She has a doctorate in education policy from Stanford University and has worked at universities, foundations, and higher education think tanks, including the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. I will rely heavily on Dr. Bueschel as an ambassador and representative of my office.
 

Brian Ballentine, who was chief of staff in the President’s Office for the past four years and has been invaluable to me in making the transition from provost to president, will now serve as Senior Vice President for Strategy and Senior Adviser to the President. This role, and the office it will oversee, will be a four-year pilot aimed at tackling major, cross-cutting initiatives for the university. Dr. Ballentine will be ideal for the position. He holds a doctorate in comparative literature from Brown University, has served as research director at a global consulting firm, and is former executive director of the Aresty Research Center at Rutgers-New Brunswick. He and I have spoken at length about my vision for Rutgers, and he will be deeply involved in setting—and implementing—my agenda for achieving that vision.
 
Each of these senior vice presidents will work closely with each other and with the current members of the senior leadership team at Rutgers. Together and with your support, they will help us find, develop, and amplify excellence across the university, bring greater clarity to our administration, and help position Rutgers as one of the top public universities in the United States and the world.
 
Sincerely,
 
Jonathan Holloway
President and University Professor