Miranda Stepping Aside as Notre Dame Provost
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Marie Lynn Miranda, the Charles and Jill Fischer Provost of the University of Notre Dame, has announced she is stepping aside as provost, effective December 31. She will remain a tenured member of the faculty.
In a letter to the campus community, Miranda explained: “The past 20 months have been so very difficult around the world, especially for those most vulnerable. As I suspect is true for many of you, the pandemic has prompted me to reflect on how I want to engage in building a post-pandemic world. I find myself compelled to work more directly on the issues about which I am most passionate.”
During her tenure as provost, Miranda helped Notre Dame achieve substantial gains in diversity, established programs to enhance feelings of inclusion, encouraged educational experimentation to adjust to teaching during the pandemic, adopted a “decide to learn” posture that seeks to retain the best educational innovations to improve teaching and learning for the long term, hired strong new academic leaders, implemented programs to strengthen graduate education, designed and implemented the “Moment to See, Courage to Act” Initiative which solicited ideas envisioning Notre Dame’s brightest future, and helped lead Notre Dame through the ongoing pandemic.
“I want to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Miranda for her leadership during the past two challenging years,” University President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., said. “As chief academic officer, she provided stability and strong, calm guidance for our faculty, staff and students during this unprecedented pandemic, all while advancing the academic mission of the University. I appreciate her dedication to the highest ideals of Our Lady’s University and wish her well.”
Notre Dame will conduct a comprehensive search for its next provost. The Academic Articles call for the University president to form and chair a search committee that will include faculty and a student representative from among the members of the University’s Academic Council, elected to the search committee by that council. Father Jenkins may also appoint to the committee additional faculty and a student to ensure a broad range of views and perspectives.
The committee, after consulting the campus community, will consider the desired qualities and qualifications of the next provost, receive and consider nominations and ultimately make a recommendation to Father Jenkins from a pool of highly qualified candidates who the committee hopes to consider. Father Jenkins will pass along both the committee’s recommendation and his own to the Board of Trustees, which then elects the next provost.
Christine Maziar, Notre Dame’s vice president and senior associate provost, will serve as interim provost until a successor to Miranda assumes the position.