Announcing our new Vice Provost of Student Affairs
Aug. 13, 2019
Dear Students, Faculty and Staff,
I am very pleased to announce the successful conclusion to our search for our first Vice Provost of Student Affairs. Raymond Lu-Ming Ou, a national leader in student life, will join us at Brandeis in time for our first-year students’ arrival on Move-In Day, August 25.
Raymond has significant work experience in all areas of student life: he has overseen residence life programs, diversity programs, culturally-inclusive counseling and health programs, student accessibility services, career services, academic advising and more. He comes to us from Tufts University, where he is Senior Associate Dean of Student Affairs, occupying the second highest senior leadership position in a division of approximately 125 professional staff members. He previously served as a student affairs leader at universities such as Johns Hopkins, Yale, and Simmons. He has three degrees from Johns Hopkins University including a bachelor’s degree, a master’s of music, and a master of science in clinical counseling. He is currently a doctor of education in organizational leadership candidate (ABD with anticipated graduation spring 2020) at Northeastern University.
At Brandeis, Raymond will oversee many of our most critical student-facing departments, including the Dean of Students Office, the Hiatt Career Center, Community Living, the Center for Spiritual Life, Hillel, Family Engagement and Communications, and student health and wellness, which includes the Counseling Center, the Health Center and the Prevention, Advocacy and Resource Center. With this talented and award-winning student affairs team he will work closely with faculty, staff and students across the university to bring about stronger connections between Brandeis’ curricular and co-curricular activities.
The student learning and living experience is one of the key areas of the Framework for Our Future, and the student learning/living experience task force held more than 50 meetings last academic year to gather student, faculty and staff feedback and ideas on enhancing student life at Brandeis. I am confident that Raymond has the vision, experience, and skills to build upon this work and make Brandeis’ student life experience second to none. In response to the Task Force’s work and Raymond’s extensive experience with clinical counseling, I have already asked him to begin this fall semester a holistic review of mental health needs and support deficits on our campus, in consultation with key stakeholders on campus. President Liebowitz and I look forward to his advice and leadership in student affairs and are confident that he will engage and help grow our community in new and creative ways.
I am deeply grateful to the search committee for their dedication to this time-consuming search process that went well into the summer. Members of the search committee included staff members Jamele M. Adams, Robert Avalle, Jessica Basile, Kate Goldfield, Ravi Lakshmikanthan, Lucas Malo, Erika Smith, and Samuel Solomon; faculty members Stephen Dowden, Susan Lichtman, and Susan Lovett; current and recent students Rabi Anjum (PhD candidate), Zosia Buse ’20, Aaron Finkel ’19, and Sarah Fein (PhD candidate); and Board of Trustees member Ellen Kaplan.
Please join me in welcoming Raymond to Brandeis University.
Lisa M. Lynch
Provost and Maurice B. Hexter Professor of Social and Economic Policy