Colleagues,
Monday evening, Provost Kumble Subbaswamy was offered the position of Chancellor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He has accepted this position, which is the leader of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ flagship, land-grant institution of higher learning.
It is not surprising that an exemplary university such as UMass Amherst would want someone of Swamy’s caliber to be at the helm. He is, quite simply, an outstanding scholar and administrator. We have been fortunate to have him as part of our community for so much of his career.
Swamy formally begins his work at UMass Amherst July 1. He is committed to a smooth transition between now and then. To that end, I will be conferring with the Deans and academic leaders across the campus about this transition period and how best to move forward.
As Provost since 2006, Swamy has been at the forefront of tackling many of UK’s most significant challenges and helping us to some of our most profound successes. Swamy spearheaded our War on Attrition, which helped us improve retention rates from 77 percent to nearly 82 percent in just a few years. He worked with our faculty to revise our undergraduate general studies program, which has resulted in a new core curriculum – UK Core: a progressive, interdisciplinary approach that puts UK at the forefront of undergraduate education in this country. And he has worked tirelessly and with great passion to ensure that we continue to grow as a campus that is inclusive, diverse and with an increasing international presence, all of which enriches the vibrancy and intellectual vitality of this institution.
As a faculty member, department chair and administrator, Swamy and his family have been associated with UK in one important way or another for some 30 years.
I know I can speak for him in saying that UK will always be a home for him.
I know, too, that we will always consider him one of ours as well.
I hope you will join me in wishing him all the best as he and his family turn the page on this next chapter in their lives. We know they will be successful as Swamy focuses his considerable talents and passions at another outstanding institution of higher learning.
In the next several weeks, once Swamy and I have had a chance to talk in more detail, we’ll announce an appropriate way for the university community to wish him well.
Thank you,
Eli
Online Community registered users log in to comment