Brown's former provost, Robert Zimmer, who worked to mold the University into a stronger research institution, was inaugurated Friday as the 13th president of the University of Chicago.
Zimmer became Brown's provost in 2002 after spending over two decades at UChicago as an administrator and professor of mathematics. While at UChicago, Zimmer served as chair of the mathematics department, deputy provost and vice president for research and the Argonne National Laboratory, which the university has operated for the U.S. Department of Energy since 1946.
Zimmer was selected as UChicago's new president in March. He stepped down from his role as Brown's provost in June and began his new duties at UChicago July 1.
In his nearly four years at Brown, Zimmer was responsible for implementing many of the initiatives of the Plan for Academic Enrichment and significantly strengthening the University's focus on research. He has said one of his most important achievements at Brown was increasing the University's level of academic ambition.
Now Zimmer is beginning to consider how to make his mark on UChicago. In a five-page letter sent last week to UChicago's faculty, Zimmer asked some 30 questions about possible goals the university could pursue, according to the Chicago Tribune. Among the questions posed in the letter, Zimmer asked how to enhance financial aid, how to improve the university's international profile and how to better communicate the institution's approach to education.
Central to helping Zimmer articulate and implement his vision for UChicago will be David Greene, who followed Zimmer from Brown over the summer to serve as UChicago's first vice president for strategic initiatives. Greene has been tasked with ensuring that the university's planning is well-focused and well-coordinated.
Greene, who stepped down as Brown's vice president for campus life and student services in August, told The Herald that Zimmer's letter to the faculty was designed to spark discussion by suggesting areas of the institution that might warrant attention.
"The idea right now is to ask whether or not these are the right questions. If they are, then we need to begin answering them in a way that would (lead to) a set of priorities for the university," Greene said, noting that the long-term planning process is just beginning.
Greene's experience in university planning stems from 10 years of working with President Ruth Simmons. In 1996, Greene became Simmons' assistant at Smith College, where she was then president, and moved with her in 2001 to assume the equivalent role at Brown. He left the Office of the President in 2003 to become interim vice president for campus life and student services and took on the post permanently the following year.
