This piece originally ran on the Web on June 16. It was revised for print publication on July 1.
Harry J. Elam Jr., a drama professor and current senior associate vice provost for undergraduate education (VPUE), will be succeeding John Bravman ‘79 M.S. ‘81 Ph.D. ‘85 as the new vice provost for undergraduate education today. Provost John Etchemendy announced the change on June 15.
Elam, who has been part of the University’s faculty for 20 years, has won six teaching awards and has been working in VPUE with Bravman since 2007. He is also the co-chair of the Study of Undergraduate Education at Stanford (SUES), which is a University-wide evaluation of non-major requirements for undergrads, such as GERs, IHUM and PWR — the first study of its kind since 1994.
As vice provost, Elam’s responsibilities will include oversight of the University’s 6,500 undergraduate students and various undergrad programs, including implementation of new changes put forth by SUES, something Elam considers a priority.
“I look forward to helping VPUE become the locus for a vibrant and exciting reexamination of undergraduate education at Stanford,” Elam told the Stanford Report. “I am eager to explore how we can make a liberal education even more central to our mission as we continue to create an undergraduate experience that is distinctive to Stanford.”
SUES’ recommendations are scheduled to be delivered in 2011.
Since 2008, when VPUE faced drastic changes in order to reduce budgets, the Vice Provost’s office has greatly restructured several programs, including putting a hiatus on overseas seminars and reorganizing staff in other departments.
The search committee to find a replacement for Bravman solicited input from faculty, staff and students, and spent over a month before naming his successor after Bravman announced his plans to leave on April 12.
Elam’s academic specialties lie in African-American and Chicano theater, and he is the author of six books. Before coming to Stanford in 1990, Elam received degrees from Harvard College and UC-Berkeley, and served on the faculty of the University of Maryland-College Park. At Stanford, he has also chaired the drama department and served as director of the IHUM program.
— Ellen Huet