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Our Staff

Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President
University of New Hampshire
Thompson Hall 207 - 105 Main Street - Durham, NH 03824
603 862 3290 TEL
603 862 4741 FAX

John D. Aber, Ph.D.

JOHN ABER is Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.

 

Lisa MacFarlane, Ph.D.

LISA MACFARLANE is Senior Vice Provost. She was previously the director of the University Honors Program and is a Professor of English and American Studies.

Dr. MacFarlane earned a BA from Princeton University and an MA and PhD is American Culture from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. Her research and teaching center on American literary, cultural, and visual history, and particularly on how cultural artifacts help to shape conceptions of American national identity. To this end, her publications include A Mighty Baptism: Race, Gender and the Creation of American Protestantism (Cornell, 1996); This World is Not Conclusion: The Spiritual Landscape of Nineteenth-Century New England Fiction (University Press of New England, 1998); and most recently Trading Gazes: Anglo-American Women Photographers and Native North Americans 1880-1940 (Rutgers, 2003). She has won a Teaching Excellence Award from the College of Liberal Arts; in 1999-2000, she held the Fulbright Association's Walt Whitman Chair in American Studies, at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. She is a past president of the New England American Studies Association, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the New Hampshire Humanities Council.

 

Wanda Mitchell, Ed.D.

WANDA S. MITCHELL is Vice Provost and Chief Diversity Officer. She provides leadership on campus and in the external community on issues of diversity and inclusion; and oversees the staff support for planning and programming activities of the President’s Commissions: Status of GLBT Issues, Status of People of Color, and Status of Women. Dr. Mitchell works closely with the entire campus community on diversity initiatives, represents the provost in university and external activities related to diversity, and serves as liaison to the Division of Student and Academic Services regarding undergraduate orientation, first-year experiences, and co-curricular activities.

She has spent over two decades in various teaching and administrative positions in higher education to include Visiting Professor of Education at the University of New Hampshire, Chair and University Endowed Professor of Education at Hampton University. Dr. Mitchell is an affiliate associate professor of Education. Her research interest and teaching are in the areas of multicultural counseling, diversity initiatives in higher education, and women career development. Mitchell earned her Ed. D. in Counseling from The College of William and Mary; M.A. in Community Counseling from Hampton University; and B.S. in Psychology from Georgia Southern University.

For more information on the University's diversity initiatives, please visit www.unh.edu/diversity.

 

Leigh Anne Melanson, M.B.A.

LEIGH ANNE MELANSON is Associate Provost for Academic Administration. As associate provost, Ms. Melanson works closely with the Provost, Provost's staff, deans, financial officers, and senior management at the University providing direction for academic personnel, budgetary, and other administrative matters.

Ms. Melanson plans and assists with the management of academic budgets in the schools and colleges and designs and implements University personnel policies and procedures relating to faculty and academic administrators. Ms. Melanson has a B.S. and M.B.A. from the University of New Hampshire. She enjoys golfing, reading, sports, and spending time with her husband, daughter, and son. She and her family are avid UNH Hockey fans.

 

James Varn, MPA, CAGS

JIM VARN is Assistant Provost at the University of New Hampshire, where he focuses on strategic planning and professional development. He is also Director of -- and teaches in -- the Master of Public Administration graduate program in the UNH Political Science Department. Jim has held several other positions at UNH: Assistant Vice President for Administration, Director of the Program on Consensus and Negotiation, Director of the New England Center, and Director for Foundation Development.

Prior to coming to UNH, Mr. Varn served as a Legislative Assistant in the U.S. Senate and Director of the Center for New Hampshire's Future. He has also consulted, facilitated, and provided training for a variety of organizations in the areas of strategic planning, organizational development, and conflict management.

Mr. Varn has a B.A. from UNH, an M.P.A. from Harvard, and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in educational administration from UNH. He was also a Kellogg National Fellow for three years. Jim enjoys boating, swimming, racquetball, hiking, reading, and spending time with his wife, two daughters, and houseful of pets.

 

Donna Marie Sorrentino, M.S.

Director of Affirmative Action and Equity

 

Helen Brewster, M.A.

HELEN C. BREWSTER, M.A. is the Assistant to the Provost. Among "other duties as assigned," she staffs the University's executive search committees. She is interested in relational communication, group process and social construction theory. Helen is a founder of NETA, the New England Textile Arts Network, a board member with Womenaid of Greater Portsmouth and with Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation, and is on the steering committee for Portsmouth Listens. She is a past Board member of the Isles of Shoals Historical Research Association and volunteers occasionally at the Portsmouth Music Hall. Helen spins lamb's wool, cashmere and alpaca fiber from New England herds into fine yarns for knitted lace work. Her c1730's home is on the back channel of the Piscataqua River near Strawbery Banke.

 

Harry Richards

Dean, UNH Graduate School

 

Julie E. Williams, Ph.D

http://www.unh.edu/outreach/bios.html#williams

 

Laurie H. Voss (862-3290) and
BJ Plantamuro (862-3290)

Laurie and BJ can be contacted for information regarding the following:

 

Associated Staff

Terri Winters, Director, CIS Academic Technology

[http://cis.unh.edu/at]
Terri Winters is Director of Academic Technology within Computing and Information Services. She oversees the areas of Multimedia, Instructional Design, and Student and Academic Infrastructure Support which develop and support instructional technologies at UNH. Since 1999, she has overseen the UNH Blackboard project and currently leads the UNH Portal Project. She promotes the use of instructional technology in teaching and learning and collaborates on many Academic Technology initiatives including the Faculty Instructional Technology Summer Institute (FITSI). She is Chair of the Committee for Instructional Technology. She holds a B.A. from the University of New Hampshire.