The role of the chancellor
Claire Costantino
Issue date: 1/29/08 Section: Guide to Vanderbilt
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Orbis: How frequently do you interact with Board members?
Zeppos: All the time! We are fortunate at Vanderbilt to have dedicated and very bright Board members who are committed to the university's academic mission. Whether in formal Board meetings, private sessions, or impromptu phone calls and emails, I actively communicate with our Board of Trust and value the successful partnership we have established.
O: What is your role in the hiring and firing process?
Z: I have in place an excellent leadership team, including our vice chancellors, deans, and directors, who do an outstanding job managing their respective faculties and staffs. Though I do not play a formal role in faculty hiring, I must confess that I love to recruit faculty and I am pretty good! I am passionate about bringing outstanding scholars to Vanderbilt's distinctive intellectual community to teach our students, and really enjoy communicating our strengths to prospective colleagues.
O: What is your role in fundraising?
Z: As chief academic and development officer since 2002, and now as iChancellor of the university, I am very involved in connecting philanthropic opportunities with Vanderbilt's strategic mission and goals. In fact, advancing the university through carefully-considered investment and development strategies is central to our continued success. We have already broken our own fundraising goals with the Shape the Future capital campaign, and I am confident that we will accelerate this trajectory in the coming months and years. This has led to better scholarships, stronger faculty, a new Children's Hospital, and The Commons.
O: What are your main policy objectives for the University?
Z: As the interim chancellor, my first responsibility is to ensure that Vanderbilt's tremendous momentum continues. Our university has never been better, stronger, or more exciting, and we are seeing proof of that through indicators like the 30 percent increase in applications and the wonderful faculty who we are able to recruit here from some of the top universities in the world.
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