Two positions that administrators hope will benefit the educational needs of students were created by the Office of Academic Affairs at Syracuse University.

Christopher Sedore, chief information officer and vice president for information technology, will step into the newly created position of associate vice chancellor for academic operations, according to a Feb. 6 SU News release.

The job was created after Kal Alston left her position as senior associate provost for academic administration to become the senior vice president for human capital development at SU last October. Rather than replace Alston directly, a new position was created to better support the university’s academic institutions, said Eric Spina, vice chancellor and provost at SU.

‘This new appointment will allow us to better support the school’s mission of scholarship and research,’ Spina said.

The new position involves making sure the Office of Academic Affairs serves the university’s schools and colleges effectively and efficiently. It also involves supporting the vice chancellor and provost in broader academic affairs matters and collaborating with the chancellor’s cabinet to ensure operations support faculty and students, Sedore said in an email.

Sedore said he believes his previous experience as a chief information officer and his work in information technology made him well prepared for the new position. As chief information officer, he worked with many people from all over the university to improve teaching and learning at SU. His work in information technology, which supports almost every part of the university, has allowed him to see how the different areas of the university function, he said.

In his new job, Sedore said he hopes to improve the use of data in decision-making.

‘We want to take what we know from the operational data we have and use that to help us make better decisions for the future,’ he said. ‘We do this now in a number of areas, but we can do much better.’

Another open position in the Office of Academic Affairs will be filled by Andria Costello Staniec. Staniec, who is the associate dean at L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science, will become the associate provost-designate for academic programs, according to the release.

Staniec will start her new job in July after Sandra Hurd, the current associate provost for academic programs, steps down, according to the release.

The job responsibilities of the associate provost for academic programs consist of monitoring the quality and effectiveness of academic programs, improving the success of students and creating new collaborative programs, Staniec said in an email.

As an associate dean at L.C. Smith, Staniec created new programs to help students succeed and developed ways to measure student retention, skills that translate well to her new position.

‘I am very excited about the opportunity to help students find the best pathway to their individual success, whether that be through institutional programs or working one-on-one,’ she said.

Spina said he thinks the new appointments will greatly improve the university.

‘I am very excited about the new appointments,’ he said. ‘Both Chris and Andria are highly collaborative people who will work well with others across the university.’

jliannet@syr.edu 

Published on February 13, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Jessica: jliannet@syr.edu | @JessicaIannetta