ANN ARBOR—Lisa A. Tedesco, vice president and secretary of the University of Michigan, has been named interim provost by President Lee C. Bollinger. The appointment is effective beginning today (Sept. 6) but is subject to approval by the Board of Regents in their meeting Sept. 20-21. The provost is the chief academic and budget officer for the University.

As vice president and secretary of the University, Tedesco serves as liaison between the Board of Regents and the University community, and coordinates policy discussions among the Regents and executive officers. She also is a professor of dentistry.

A 13-member search advisory committee chaired by the president was appointed in June to conduct a nationwide search for provost. Provost Nancy Cantor left the University in July to become chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Tedesco indicated she is not a candidate for the position.

“I am deeply grateful to Lisa Tedesco for taking on this assignment,” Bollinger said. “Lisa possesses so many fine attributes for this role, and among the finest are an extensive knowledge of all that’s going on, an extraordinary ability to work well with everyone, and excellent judgment. That she will undertake this responsibility is a great service to the University.”

“Over the past few years, the University has grown ever stronger in its academic stature and we have many ongoing initiatives that must continue apace,” Tedesco said. “I look forward to working with the deans, faculty, staff and students to ensure that we stay on course. I also am deeply committed to the values that uniquely define Michigan and place it as leader on many important national issues in higher education.”

Tedesco holds both a master’s degree and Ph.D. in educational psychology from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Over her 20 years in academic dentistry she has worked as a behavioral scientist concentrating in health psychology and in the areas of curriculum and faculty development.

Tedesco joined the U-M faculty in 1992 as associate dean for academic affairs at the U-M School of Dentistry, a position she held until her appointment as vice president in 1998. She is a member of the U-M President’s Advisory Commission on Women’s Issues and has served as a special adviser to the president on diversity. She was responsible for coordinating the publication “Climate and Character,” summarizing diversity initiatives at U-M prior to 1997.

During 1997-98 Tedesco was involved with the Peer Review of Teaching Project at the U-M Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. She chairs the Campus Safety and Security Advisory Committee, and also serves on the Faculty and Staff Assistance Program Advisory Board and the Board in Control of Intercollegiate Athletics.

Her research and scholarship have examined cognitive behavioral approaches to health regimen compliance and relapse prevention; stress and oral disease; and curriculum, learning and teaching in the health professions. She has published widely in these areas and presents her work at national and international meetings. She is co-principal investigator of the U-M Health Occupations Partners in Education (HOPE) project, funded through the Association of American Medical Colleges Health Professions Partnership Initiative for disadvantaged and minority youth.

In 1991 Tedesco was named a Fellow by the Pew National Dental Leadership Program, and in 1996 she was a Fellow in the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) program. She is a past president of the American Dental Education Association (formerly the American Association of Dental Schools), and was instrumental in redirecting the Association’s activities to address national academic issues, professional testing and evaluation, and policy issues. During 1996-97 Tedesco was a Fellow in the Academic Leadership Program sponsored by the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (Big Ten universities plus the University of Chicago).

In 1995 she was inducted as an honorary member of the American Dental Association, in recognition for her contributions to academic dentistry. In 1998 she received a distinguished alumni award from the Graduate School of Education at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Nominations for the position of provost