Chaplain Gipson changes post

Former University Chaplain William Gipson is making the leap from the chapel to College Hall.

As the new Associate Vice Provost for Equity and Access, a position created this semester within the Office of the Provost, Gipson is taking the lead in maintaining Penn's reputation for prioritizing diversity in higher education.

"Penn prides itself in the good work it's been doing in the diversity of the student body," Gipson said. "We want to continue to take advantage of this momentum."

University Provost Ron Daniels lauded Gipson's appointment, which he said came at the culmination of a long search process.

"It represents a rethinking of the way we deal with diversity issues," he added.

In taking this new position, however, Gipson will be leaving his former post as Chaplain of the University.

"There are only 24 hours in the day," he joked. "Being the Chaplain is a job that I could not imagine leaving-except this was a job that I could not imagine not accepting."

The job was an idea born from conversations between Provost Ron Daniels, Associate Provost for Education Andrew Binns and Vice Provost for University Life Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum.

Binns said they appointed Gipson as a central leader to oversee "various areas of access and academic support."

How Gipson will achieve this broad goal is still up for discussion.

"He's only been at this for 12 days," said Swain-Cade McCoullum, who served as the hiring officer. But even so, she continued, Gipson has already made a promise to "listen and learn directly from students" about the types of changes that need to be made on campus.

There is no direct mandate to create new programs, said Binns, but Gipson will reach out to faculty and students to assess any unsatisfied needs in the Penn community.

"We are going to be listening very carefully," said Binns.

Gipson will also be managing the four major cultural centers on campus: Makuu, La Casa Latina, Greenberg Intercultural Center and the Pan Asian American Community House. In the upcoming weeks, Gipson will meet with the directors of these centers to coordinate their efforts to "improve the retention and access pipeline programs" like PennCAP and Upward Bound, he explained.

Associate Chaplain Charles Howard will step up as an interim Chaplain until Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs Vincent Price organizes a search committee for a permanent replacement.

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