| Sharon Jones Schweitzer | 210-999-8406 | sjones@trinity.edu |
| THREE TRINITY FACULTY APPOINTED AS ACADEMIC ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENTS |
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July 25, 2001 - In a major reorganization of Trinity University’s office of Academic Affairs, the University has appointed three long time faculty members as associate vice presidents for the division. Moya A. Ball has been promoted to associate vice president for curriculum and student issues, Sarah P. Burke to associate vice president of faculty recruitment and development, and Fred M. Loxsom to associate vice president for budget and research. They assumed their positions June 1. The appointments eliminate the positions of academic deans at Trinity University, and according to Michael Fischer, vice president for Academic Affairs, “The new structure will better achieve institutional oversight while minimizing redundancy, facilitate communication, and free up resources that can be used in other ways.”
As associate vice president for curriculum and student issues, Dr. Ball’s major responsibilities include oversight for student advising, the first-year seminar program, curriculum issues, and new student orientation. “I hope I can help to encourage a community that celebrates the centrality of academic excellence. I think an apt slogan for Trinity could be ‘engaged excellence’,” said Dr. Ball. In addition, she will focus on undergraduate research, the University’s honors program, coordinate post-graduate scholarship opportunities, and serve as liaison to several of Trinity’s special event programs for prospective students and parents such as Trinity in Focus, A Trinity Summer, Parents’ Orientation, and Family Weekend. Dr. Ball joined the Trinity faculty in 1988 and teaches speech communication. Her academic expertise is in political communication, and she is widely published on the communication strategies and decision-making styles of several U.S. presidents and their advisors. She is author of Vietnam-On-The-Potomac and has published several articles and chapters on the rhetorical and policy making styles of Presidents Lyndon Johnson and John Kennedy. She received her Ph.D. in speech communication from the University of Minnesota.
As associate vice president for faculty recruitment and development, Dr. Burke will concentrate on faculty issues relating to searches, orientation and mentoring, assistance and evaluation of the tenure and promotion process, and allocation of faculty development funds. “One of my goals is to be completely accessible to faculty members, because the quality of faculty recruitment and development is important not only to the well being of Trinity University, it is also essential to maintaining high morale within the faculty community,” said Dr. Burke. In addition she will oversee academic leave and summer stipend proposals, course scheduling, and graduate and interdisciplinary programs. Dr. Burke teaches Russian and joined the Trinity University faculty in 1973. She chaired the department of Modern Languages and Literatures from 1995 until her administrative appointment. She received her Ph.D. in Slavic languages and literatures from the University of Texas at Austin. Her specialties are Russian art and literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Her publications include articles on Russian avant-garde art, the modernist writer A.M. Remizov, and Russian folk art.
As vice president for budget and research, Dr. Loxsom will review capital improvement and equipment requests, departmental budget proposals, allocation of matching and start-up funds and funds for student research, grant proposals and reports, and supervise a sponsored research officer.” I am especially interested in my opportunities to encourage the scholarly activities of my faculty colleagues, to seek support for undergraduate research, and to nurture interdisciplinary projects. I am also interested in encouraging community outreach programs and international research and education programs especially involving Latin America,” said Dr. Loxsom. In addition, he will serve as coordinator of institutional assessment and several of the University’s high profile lecture series, including the Distinguished Scientists Lecture Series, the Stieren Arts Enrichment Fund, and the DeCoursey Lecture. A professor of physics and former chair of the department, Dr. Loxsom joined the Trinity faculty in 1970. His expertise is environmental physics, and his current research activities include measurement and modeling of air pollution, measurement of solar UVB radiation, and radiative transfer calculations. An active researcher, Dr. Loxsom has 65 scientific publications to his credit and has been the recipient of more than $200,000 in National Science Foundation and other research grants in the past 10 years. He received his doctorate in physics from Dartmouth College. Trinity University, founded in 1869, is a highly selective, professionally-oriented liberal arts and sciences institution. This residential, primarily undergraduate coeducational university is noted for its superb facilities and undergraduate research opportunities. It is a learning community that has charted its course with a steadfast commitment to excellence for more than 130 years. |
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Last updated on July 31, 2001 by the Office of Public Relations |
