Dear Campus Community,
We write to you today to share another exciting vice provost appointment. After a comprehensive internal search, Victoria Plaut has been appointed to the role of vice provost for the faculty, effective August 15, 2022. Vicky is currently the Claire Sanders Clements Dean's Professor of Law in the School of Law at UC Berkeley and the chair of the Academic Senate's Budget and Interdepartmental Relations Committee. She previously served as the Law School’s associate dean for equity and inclusion.
A social and cultural psychologist by training, Vicky started her career at Berkeley in 2009. She is an expert in psychological and organizational processes and developing empirically-based best practices for fostering equitable and inclusive work and learning environments. For the past three years, Vicky has served on the Budget Committee, serving as chair during the past year. As chair, Vicky guided the committee in its evaluation of hundreds of faculty appointment, merit, and promotion cases. She also led the committee in making its recommendations for allocations of faculty positions for the campus. As the vice provost for the faculty, she will be responsible for building, supporting, and maintaining the world-class faculty at Berkeley in close collaboration with deans, department chairs, and Academic Senate colleagues.
Vicky is well known in her field for her work on the psychological science of diversity. Vicky’s deep commitment to, and expertise with, advancing matters of diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice will help guide her decisions around the design of systems, policies, and practices to support our faculty. In her own words, “Fostering fair and effective personnel processes and supportive, equitable, and inclusive environments for the recruitment, success, and well-being of our faculty are central to Berkeley’s continued excellence as the leading public university.” Vicky’s commitment to a campus climate that is more inclusive, equitable, and just will benefit the entire Berkeley community, faculty, students, and staff.
Vicky earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Harvard University, her master’s degree in social psychology from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and her doctoral degree in social psychology from Stanford University. Prior to joining Berkeley Law, she was a faculty member at the University of Georgia and at the College of the Holy Cross. She has authored numerous publications, including articles in the leading journals in her field. Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Spencer Foundation, and has been publicized nationally and internationally.
You can learn more about Vicky on Berkeley News
Janet Broughton, former vice provost for the faculty, has agreed to serve as interim vice provost until Vicky begins her appointment. We would like to thank Janet for her interim leadership, as well as the search committee for their diligence and recommendation for this crucial position.
Please join us in congratulating Vicky on her appointment and wishing her success in her new role.
Sincerely,
Carol T. Christ
Chancellor
Benjamin E. Hermalin
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost
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