Carolyn R. Hodges, vice provost and dean of the Graduate School, will return to the faculty of the Department of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures at the end of this calendar year.
“Carolyn has served UT admirably as a faculty member and in administrative positions including department head, associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences, and, most recently, vice provost and dean,” said Provost Susan Martin.
Hodges’s appointment in 2007 centered on the reinstatement and restructuring of the Graduate School, which brought about the establishment of the Office of Graduate Training and Mentorship to foster student professional development; collaboration with programs on building linkages and coordination of recruitment for inclusive excellence; the change to an electronic application process in graduate admissions; Graduate School support of and engagement with a faculty grant from the National Institutes of Health–funded Program for Excellence and Equity in Research (PEER); and participation in international recruitment and building of linkages to strengthen global connections. During her tenure, the Graduate School helped to support seven students awarded Southern Regional Education Board doctoral scholar fellowships, and it currently provides assistance to twelve students with awards from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program.
She enhanced the national visibility of graduate education at UT in her role as president of the Tennessee Conference of Graduate Schools, as a member of the executive board of the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools, as chair and member of several national committees affiliated with the Council of Graduate Schools, and as co-leader of a select group of deans across the country committed to broadening participation in graduate education.
“I want to thank Carolyn for her dedicated service to the Graduate School and to the Office of the Provost. She has been a strong advocate for graduate students during her time as dean. I wish her all the best as she transitions to this next step in her career,” Martin said.
A search to fill the post will begin immediately.