Belmont University Provost Dr. Thomas Burns announced the new position of vice provost for academic affairs in the provost office on Friday morning.
The current dean of the College of Pharmacy, Dr. Philip Johnston, said he is excited to fill this new role at the university.
In the position, Johnston will focus on helping the schools and colleges communicate with the provost office.
“The provost is the chief operating officer of the institution, everything that goes on every day, that is the connection eventually,” Johnston said. “Right now there is a good number of reports that answer directly to the provost, and this is an effort to assist him in that communication process.”
Adding the vice provost for academic affairs position is the first of many changes Burns has planned for the provost office, according to an email he sent to Belmont faculty and staff. These changes are part of an effort to “gain greater efficiency in support of student recruitment, retention, and faculty development,” Burns wrote.
As this is an entirely new position to the university, it is going to take some time to figure out what his goals are as he moves into this new role, Johnston said.
“A lot of the things I do and the way I do things will be influenced by the people I work with, so it will take a little bit of time to get to know the people I work with and their goals and then try to put them together with the university goals to be successful in this,” Johnston said. “I’m very excited about it, and I think it’s something that will help all of us”
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This article written by Emily Allen.