AVPAA Roles and Responsibilities

In addition to the specific responsibilities assigned to each position in the Faculty Handbook, AVPAAs serve as strategic thought-partners to the Provost and VPAA, coordinate the activities of the Divisional Advisory Councils (DACs), participate in the nomination and selection of department chairs, and lead special projects at the direction of the Provost and VPAA.

AVPAA: Curriculum and Faculty Development

In the role of Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs: Curriculum and Faculty Development (AVPAA: CFD), Dr. Duane Coltharp provides leadership in the development and reform of undergraduate and graduate curricula in collaboration with the University Curriculum Council and the Commission on Graduate Studies.

As an ex-officio member of the University Curriculum Council, he supports academic departments and individual faculty members in all matters related to faculty promotion and tenure, reviews of probationary faculty members, and termination. He is responsible for editing and preparing the Courses of Study Bulletin and preparing the course schedule in collaboration with the Registrar.

He organizes New Faculty Orientation, working alongside the Collaborative for Learning and Teaching, and leads development efforts for newly appointed department chairs. Coltharp supervises the selection process for the Z. T. Scott Faculty Fellowship, Murchison term professorships, the Piper Professor nomination, and other faculty awards.

The AVPAA: CFD provides strategic leadership for the Collaborative for Learning and Teaching and the Center for Experiential Learning and Career Success. He manages curricular and pedagogical innovation grants.

AVPAA: Inclusive Excellence

As Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs: Inclusive Excellence, Dr. Wilson Terrell, Jr., is responsible for advancing Trinity’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion by reducing bias, promoting professional development, making data-informed decisions, and aiding the creation of anti-racist structures among the faculty and in Trinity’s classrooms. In this role, Dr. Terrell, Jr. co-chairs the university’s Inclusive Excellence Advisory Council, in collaboration with inclusive excellence leaders in Student Affairs and Human Resources.

The AVPAA: Inclusive Excellence leads design and implementation of efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in curriculum design, course development, and the assessment of student learning and coordinates the gathering, analysis, and dissemination of data related to equity outcomes for faculty and students. The AVPAA develops and implements promising practices with respect to the recruitment and retention of a diverse faculty and serves as an academic liaison with the Director for Student Diversity and Inclusion for special commencement ceremonies (e.g., Kente, De Colores, Lavender, etc.) and other events for student populations (e.g., New Student Orientation, LatinX Leadership Initiative, etc.).

AVPAA: Student Success

As Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs: Student Success  (AVPAA: Student Success), Dr. Jennifer Henderson is responsible for enhancing the student academic experience and offering strategies to improve student retention. In this capacity, she develops, manages, and assesses the University’s comprehensive action plan to improve the retention of undergraduate students. 

She coordinates first-year student academic advising and adviser training; the Reading TUgether common reading program; the work of the Academic Honor Council and the Academic Honor Code; academic programs for New Student Orientation; Honors Awards Convocation, and the work of the major scholarships and fellowships committee. The AVPAA: Student Success receives student requests for exceptions to academic policy and oversees the process for grade appeals.

The AVPAA: Student Success supervises the Director of Academic Advising,  the Director for Academic Support, and First-Year Experience Coordinator.