Advancing Student Success Through Organizational Realignment

Dear campus community,

When I arrived at the University of Arizona, I made a commitment to listen deeply and act purposefully to strengthen the student experience and advance our mission as Arizona's keystone, land-grant institution.

Over the past several months, I have engaged with more than 420 faculty, staff, students, alumni, donors, Tribal leaders, education councils, and community partners through 20 campus conversations and nearly a dozen other forums. The insights gathered through these discussions have illuminated both our tremendous strengths and clear opportunities to better support every student's success.

You told us that while we have exceptional people and programs, students, especially in the first two years of their academic journey, often struggle to navigate our services and find the support they need.

We listened. In recent weeks, I have worked closely with key student success leaders, Kristina Wong Davis, Vice President for Enrollment Management and Dean of Admissions, Amanda Kraus, Vice President for Student Affairs, and Greg Heileman, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, to develop purposeful changes to ensure student success. Throughout this process, these leaders engaged and consulted with leaders on their teams to ground our approach.

Today, I am pleased to share how we will evolve our structure to create a more student-centered experience as we work together to achieve success for every student and deliver on our promise.  

What we are changing and why
The Office of the Provost provides a wide range of high-quality programs and services to support student success through dedicated teams in Enrollment Management and Admissions, Academic Affairs, and Student Affairs. Our faculty and staff are deeply committed to this work, and our programs have demonstrated meaningful impact.

As you shared, students often struggle to navigate our resources. Services can seem fragmented and duplicated across units, creating confusion and barriers to access. Students may find themselves bouncing from office to office and feeling uncertain where to turn for the support they need to succeed.

To help address these challenges, we are implementing a functional reorganization to create a coordinated student experience that guides students seamlessly from their time as prospective students through enrollment and beyond. An organizational chart reflecting the changes presented in this message is available on the Office of the Provost website.

Strengthening support for transfer students
Transfer students represent approximately one-quarter of our new student population, yet retention and graduation rates have declined in recent years. We are realigning and expanding services to engage more proactively with transfer students, from the moment they consider attending the U of A through orientation, new student transitions, and enrollment.

The Office of the Registrar, led by Alex Underwood, will move under Enrollment Management and Admissions, reporting to Kristina Wong Davis with a dotted line to Academic Affairs to continue important academic policy work. This realignment will bring together admissions, enrollment, and records services to facilitate data integration and streamline transfer pathways from other institutions, including the assessment of prior academic credits toward U of A degrees.

All Transfer Credit and Articulation services will transition to the Office of the Registrar to form a new Transfer Credit Evaluation team, led by Mary Ellen Clark, Assistant Registrar, reporting to Alex Underwood. The team will continue to work on transcript intake and evaluation, credit evaluation policies, processes and tools, and ongoing maintenance of course equivalencies to better serve transfer students and academic units.

The Transfer Student Center will be renamed Transfer Student Support Services. Director Shelley McGrath will lead this student-facing services team, reporting to Greg Heileman in Academic Affairs. The new unit will offer enhanced, centralized resources for transfer students through coordination with AZTransfer, early advising, peer mentoring, student ambassador programming, and other community-building opportunities. Additionally, we are creating a new advising position dedicated to assisting students during their transition to the U of A.

These changes will improve coordination with colleges and departments within the U of A, and with community colleges. Transfer students will benefit from a more cohesive advising experience, a streamlined transfer process, clearer transfer degree pathways, and a stronger sense of belonging and community.

Reenvisioning our structure for student support and services
Student Engagement and Career Development, led by Executive Director Emily McCarthy, will be renamed the Center for Career Readiness and will move to Academic Affairs, under the leadership of Greg Heileman, to build stronger connections between academic programs and career preparation.

Academic support units, including Think Tank, SALT, and C.A.T.S. Academics, will remain in Academic Affairs, under Christine Salvesen, Chief Retention Officer and Associate Vice Provost for Student Success (formerly Student Success & Retention Innovation).

We are currently reenvisioning the programs and services offered by the Thrive Center to structure them based on their core purposes. Programs for new students and students with financial need, including New Start, Wildcat Leap, Wildcat Welcome, Last Mile Grants, UAHA Scholar, and AZ Assurance, will move to Enrollment Management and Admissions under the leadership of Kristina Wong Davis to better support students during their academic journey. The Enrollment Management and Admissions team will work with these programs to streamline support efforts.

Student-focused programs, including Financial Wellness, Peer Mentoring and Partner Support, First Cats, The 50, AGAVE and the Blue Chip Leadership Experience will transition to the Dean of Students Office under the leadership of Chrissy Lieberman within Student Affairs, where they align with existing student support and engagement opportunities.

The Dean of Students Office will partner with Enrollment Management and Admissions to provide coordinated assistance for students participating in programs with financial support and student services components, such as Last Mile Grants, UAHA Scholars, and Arizona Assurance.

In the weeks and months ahead, these teams will review our ecosystem of programs to identify opportunities to make them more impactful, in alignment with the needs of our students.

Our commitment 
Guided by our strategic imperatives and newly developed academic success goals, we will work within this new framework to clarify responsibilities, streamline processes and align functions to build a more efficient and supportive work environment. Our goal is to be supportive of our staff who support our students, create opportunities for professional growth and career advancement, and allow them to thrive at the U of A.

Kristina Wong Davis, Amanda Kraus and Greg Heileman with input from their respective teams are working together to implement these organizational changes in the affected units through January. The well-being of our staff and the continuity of services for our students is the utmost priority during this transition process.

Moving forward together
All our units within the Office of the Provost are working in close collaboration with one another and our partners across colleges and divisions to profoundly transform the student experience.

This work would not be possible without the voices, expertise, and dedication of our entire Wildcat community. Thank you for your partnership as we continue to evolve and strengthen our ability to support every student’s journey.

I welcome your continued feedback and questions as we implement these changes in the coming months.

With gratitude,

Patricia A. Prelock, Ph.D.
Provost and Chief Academic Officer

This email was sent to all students, faculty, staff and designated campus colleagues.