September 3, 2021
Friends, Once again, many thanks for taking the time to participate in the selection of an interim provost. You nominated a
slate of outstanding candidates and each of the three finalists is stellar in her own way. My thanks to all three candidates: Cynthia Neal Spence, Ph.D., Leyte Winfield, Ph.D. and Dolores Bradley Brennan, Ph.D. All three are exemplary campus leaders. In making the selection, I kept in mind the work ahead of us in the next ten months. First and foremost, keeping our faculty safe and healthy. Second, maintaining a teaching and learning environment that enables you to sustain the academic excellence that you offer our students. Third, partnering with the division and academic chairs to provide the support you need to continue with the exciting intellectual and educational initiatives that many of you are overseeing in your own work and on behalf of the College. Fourth, overseeing the integration of academic and fiscal planning and the plans for the allocation of fiscal resources. I am pleased to announce that,
after a series of interviews, I have selected Dr. Bradley Brennan to serve as interim provost. Her first assignment will be to meet with faculty who teach in each of our instructional buildings, along with CIO John Wilson and Art Frazier, director of FMS, to make sure that your classroom environment is functioning well. Additionally, we are inviting Kara Garretson, who oversees COVID-19 medical protocols for the AUC to join them to answer any questions about COVID-19 reporting, testing and any other related issues you would like to raise. The College is recruiting a COVID-19 Operations Specialist who will be dedicated exclusively to Spelman and who will be available to faculty to answer questions as they arise. Dr. Bradley Brennan came to Spelman in 2001 under
a joint appointment with the Yerkes National Primate Research Center of Emory University. A distinguished scholar in visual perception and development, physiological optics and visual system anatomy, Dr. Bradley Brennan has published 22 papers and book chapters on visual development and processing, most recently focusing on identifying effective treatments for childhood visual disorders. She was promoted to full professor at Spelman in 2010, and in 2012 elected to Epsilon of Georgia, the Spelman chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.She closed her Yerkes laboratory in 2016, about the same time that she transitioned from chair of the psychology department and College-wide director of undergraduate research to interim vice provost of Spelman. Since 2017, as vice
provost and associate vice president of Academic Affairs she has promoted initiatives for the professional development of department chairs, worked with faculty colleagues and departments to infuse active learning into the curriculum, supported faculty scholarship productivity, and new/junior faculty development, either internally or in partnership with entities such as the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity. Dr. Bradley Brennan graduated magna cum laude with double majors in psychology and English from Tennessee State University, and she earned her master’s and doctorate in experimental psychology from Brown University. Her full CV is available at this link. Within the next ten days, the College will determine a replacement for Dr. Bradley Brennan’s role as vice provost. Again, thank you for your participation. Best regards,
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