Dear UTA community,

In February, we set our intention to fill several of the University’s leadership positions to help support the advancement of our mission and strategic direction in becoming one of the nation’s most inclusive and impactful research universities. I’m pleased to report that, over the course of seven months, we launched and successfully completed six leadership searches. I owe many thanks to the Maverick community for your efforts and involvement in making this possible.

Recently, I shared a number of leadership updates and changes to our organizational structure. Since that announcement, I have been working with the Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and other internal and external stakeholders to gain their feedback on our DEI efforts and how best to integrate these efforts throughout the University.

As a result of these listening engagements, we have decided to establish the Office of Talent, Culture, and Inclusion. This new office will integrate functions of our Office of Human Resources and Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to elevate our focus on attracting and retaining talent at all levels, supporting an inclusive workplace, and advancing the development of our employees.

To lead this new office, we are launching an internal search for our inaugural Vice President of Talent, Culture, and Inclusion. More information about the search, including the job profile and search committee, is available on the UTA Executive Searches website. Additionally, I have asked Dr. Tamara Brown, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, and Lisa Nagy, vice president for student affairs, to convene conversations around how we can best organize ourselves to advance the development of our students through curricular and co-curricular experiences. I look forward to sharing the outcomes of those conversations with you in a future update.

Thank you for continuing to share your feedback and vision for UTA as we chart our path forward. I am confident the new Office of Talent, Culture, and Inclusion will allow us to better serve our community, help ensure our people have what they need to thrive, deepen the impact of our work in DEI, and certify we are providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for every member of our Maverick family.