Stephen Gange named interim provost and senior vice president for academic affairs

Stephen Gange, executive vice provost for academic affairs since 2015 and longtime member of the faculty at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, has been appointed interim provost and senior vice president for academic affairs beginning May 1, the university announced today. He will serve upon the departure of Provost Sunil Kumar, who was recently named president of Tufts University. Kumar's last day at the university is April 30, and he will assume his new role at Tufts in July.

Image caption: Stephen Gange

Image credit: Will Kirk / Johns Hopkins University

Gange will serve on an interim basis while a 24-member search committee, chaired by Ed Schlesinger, Benjamin T. Rome Dean of the Whiting School of Engineering, begins a global search for the next provost.

University President Ron Daniels announced the plans in an email to faculty, staff, and students on Feb. 22, thanking Schlesinger and the committee members for their willingness to lead the search for "an exceptional leader to advance our university's core academic, research, and service missions," and expressing gratitude to both Kumar and Gange for their steadfast service to the university.

"Sunil has been a model university citizen during his more than six years of exemplary service at Johns Hopkins and has laid an outstanding foundation upon which our next provost will build," Daniels wrote. "Dr. Gange has served as the executive vice provost for academic affairs since 2015 and is uniquely positioned to lead us through the transition given his strong administrative experience, deep knowledge of the university and the Office of the Provost, and proven ability to advance key universitywide initiatives."

Daniels outlined Gange's many responsibilities in central administration, from overseeing the Office of International Student and Scholar Services and directing the Student Services Excellence Initiative (SSEI), to launching both the University Registrar and Student Enrollment and Accounts Management (SEAM) organizations. As an accomplished scholar and epidemiologist, Gange played an invaluable leadership role in developing and communicating policies and plans throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and also collaborated with representatives from across Johns Hopkins to advance institutional priorities, including student benefits, digital education, lifelong learning, and international affairs.

In addition to his role as executive vice provost, Gange has been a Johns Hopkins faculty member for nearly 30 years. He is a professor of epidemiology in the Bloomberg School of Public Health with a joint appointment in Infectious Diseases at the School of Medicine. Prior to joining the Office of the Provost, he was appointed as the senior associate dean for academic affairs at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Gange is a past recipient of the Bloomberg School's Earnest Lyman Stebbins Medal recognizing outstanding contributions to the school's teaching programs, and he is also an elected member of the American Epidemiological Society and the Delta Omega Honorary Public Health Society, as well as a Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology.

The executive search firm Isaacson, Miller will help facilitate the process and develop the candidate pool. Daniels encouraged the university community to share thoughts and confidential nominations directly with the search firm online.

The members of the search committee are:

• Chair: Ed Schlesinger, Benjamin T. Rome Dean of the Whiting School of Engineering
• Kerry Ates, Vice President and Chief of Staff to President Daniels
• Dwight Bergles, Professor of Neuroscience, School of Medicine
• Lisa Blodgett, Sector Head, Force Projection Sector, APL
• Hal Brands, Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs, SAIS
• Fred Bronstein, Dean, Peabody Institute
• Mary Favret Vice Dean for Graduate Education, Professor of English, Krieger School
• Oscar Reyes Gaido, MD-PhD Candidate, Bouchet Society, Krieger School Class of 2015
• Hahrie Han, Director, SNF Agora Institute, Professor of Political Science, Krieger School
• Laurent Heller, Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration
• Kevin Hemker, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Whiting School, and Director of the Center for Additive Manufacturing and Architected Materials (JAM2)
• Elizabeth Jaffee, Professor of Oncology, Deputy Director, Kimmel Cancer Center
• Odis Johnson Jr., Executive Director, Center for Safe and Healthy Schools, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, Bloomberg School of Public Health and School of Education
• Marc Kamionkowski, Professor of Physics & Astronomy, Krieger School
• Megan Weil Latshaw, Associate Scientist, Environmental Health and Engineering, Bloomberg School of Public Health
• David Phillips, Vice Provost for Admissions and Financial Aid
• Damani Piggott, Associate Vice Provost for Graduate Diversity and Partnerships, Associate Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine
• Keshia M. Pollack Porter, Bloomberg Centennial Chair, Health Policy and Management, Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Dan Polsky, Professor of Health Policy and Economics, Carey Business School, and Bloomberg School of Public Health Bloomberg Distinguished Professor
• Sashank Reddy, Associate Professor of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, School of Medicine, Associate Director, Institute for NanoBio Technology
• Lainie Rutkow, Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Initiatives, Professor of Health Policy and Management, Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Sri Sarma, Vice Dean for Graduate Education and Lifelong Learning, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Whiting School
• Sarah Szanton, Dean, School of Nursing
• Ivy Xun, Undergraduate Student, Writing Seminars and Public Health, Krieger School Class of 2023