The University of Miami announced Dean of the College William Green as its next Senior Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education.
Green, who has been a UR faculty member since 1974, will start at his new position on July 1.
“William Green is the best person in the country to lead our institutional commitment to create the highest quality of undergraduate programs and services,” Miami President Donna Shalala said. “Everything else we do at the university builds on that core strength.”
Green was appointed Professor of Religion in 1985 and was the founder of UR’s Department of Religion and Classics. He was named the Philip S. Bernstein Professor of Judaic Studies in 1991.
“My time at the university, personally and professionally, was enriched enormously by Bill Green,” former President Thomas Jackson said. “I learned a great deal from Bill in his roles as educator, administrator, and friend.”
As the Dean of the College in the 1990s, Green led in the development of the Rochester Curriculum, introducing the cluster-based system that is currently in use.
Green also served as head of the Center for Judaic Studies at UR.
On July 1, 2005, former Vice Provost and Robert L. and Mary L. Sproull Dean of the College Faculty Thomas LeBlanc left UR to join the Miami faculty, serving as executive vice president and provost.
“Green’s experience and energy, and most importantly, his ability to bring various constituencies together, will help realize a shared and comprehensive vision for the future,” LeBlanc said.
In addition to his roles as senior vice provost and dean of undergraduate education at Miami, Green will be appointed as Professor of Religious Studies and will be a Senior Fellow in the Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies.
In addition to his work at UR, Green is the associate editor of the HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion and the co-editor of The Encyclopedia of Religion.
“Anyone who has ever heard Bill give a welcoming address to parents or students, or listened to one of his lectures, knows that his passion is education,” Interim Vice Provost and Dean of the Faculty Joanna Olmsted said. “We have all benefited from the immensely creative ways in which Bill has institutionalized that excitement and vision.”
Green’s work at UR extended to the field of entrepreneurship in recent years, with the establishment of the UR Center for Entrepreneurship, after a $3.5 million grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. This grant has allowed UR to offer new courses and opportunities to students from many sections of the university.
“He has served the College as a teacher, a national scholar of religion and classics, and an eloquent speaker on the values of a liberal education for more than 30 years,” President Joel Seligman said. “In the blossoming of our entrepreneurial activities, Bill has contributed in vital ways to integrating that vision across our campuses.”
Green earned his undergraduate degree in religion at Dartmouth College, and received his doctorate in religion from Brown University.
“Before he shaped the curriculum of the College, he designed a curriculum for the Department of Religion and Classics he created,” Department of Religion and Classics Chair Edward Wierenga said. “Later, while serving as Dean, he continued to teach vital courses, leaving his imprint not just on the department but on generations of students, as well.”Majarian can be reached at mmajarian@campustimes.org.
