Penn committee looks to fill the Vice Provost and Director of Libraries position

Provost John L. Jackson Jr. announced the creation of an ad hoc consultative committee to help fill the H. Carton Rogers III Vice Provost and Director of Libraries position on Oct. 24. 

The committee, which consists of 15 members, is chaired by Deputy Provost Beth Winkelstein, who also serves as a professor for the Department of Bioengineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Winkelstein has been Deputy Provost since her appointment in 2020.

The former Vice Provost and Director of Libraries, Constantia Constantinou, resigned from the position in September, leaving Senior Associate Vice Provost for Collections and Scholarly Communications Brigitte Weinsteiger to serve as interim director.

The committee comprises five faculty members, including Vivian Gadsden, a professor of child development and education at Penn's Graduate School of Education, who was also elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in April.

The committee’s faculty members also include Associate Dean for Arts and Letters and College music professor Jeffrey Kallberg, professor of cinema and media studies Shannon Mattern, Richard D. Green University Professor Lynn Meskell, and Penn Museum Director Christoper Woods. 

Two Penn students, third-year Carey Law School and Wharton Graduate JD/MBA student Michael Krone and College senior Rawan Wadi, also sit on the committee. 

Two Penn alumni, 1993 Wharton graduate Erik Gershwind and 1997 Wharton graduate Wendy Holman, serve as the Board of Advisors for the committee. Gershwind, the Board of Advisors chair, is also the CEO of MSC Industrial Supply Co., and Holman is the CEO and co-founder of Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. 

The staff to the committee is Jennifer Canose, Associate Director for Education, and the consultant to the committee is Anita Tien, an Isaacson, Miller partner. 

Jackson announced that the committee is accepting nominations for the vacant position until Dec. 15, 2023.