Dear UWM Colleagues,
I share with you today upcoming changes to my leadership team.
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Andrew Daire has notified me that he will be leaving UWM for a new opportunity at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. He will become their next provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs in early May, and his last day at UWM is May 1, 2026. We will launch an internal search for an interim provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs shortly.
Deanna Alba, Acting Vice Chancellor for Marketing & Communications, is retiring after 16 years at UWM. Fifteen of those years were in the College of Letters & Science (L&S) as the Assistant Dean for Marketing and Recruitment. Her last day in the office is March 27. We have been working with WittKieffer for several months on the search for the next vice chancellor and are planning for finalist candidates to be on campus the first week of April. Jodie Tabak, UWM’s Director of Strategic Communications, will serve as Interim Vice Chancellor.
Brian Thompson, Chief Innovation & Partnership Officer, will be transitioning out of his current role at the end of the academic year, with plans in the works to remain engaged in the Milwaukee entrepreneurial and innovation community. He enjoyed a long corporate career in business development and strategic planning before helping launch the UWM Research Foundation (UWMRF) as president in 2006 and the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center (LEC) in 2015 before moving to his UWM leadership role in 2023. More information about a search will be forthcoming.
I asked the three leaders about their most impactful accomplishments. Each independently expressed how meaningful it was to work with the dedicated, smart and collaborative faculty and staff at UWM. Their achievements were only possible because of the teams and partners they had by their side.
Andrew is proud of advancing UWM’s 2030 commitment to student success as both a strategic priority and a moral imperative. In addition to efforts through the Division of Strategic Enrollment Management & Student Success, he fostered direct engagement with students through meetings with the Student Association and Pizza with the Provost. He notes that initiatives like program array and budget modeling will position UWM to thrive. Andrew appreciates everyone who engaged in data-informed decision-making and made difficult changes while demonstrating care for students and colleagues.
Deanna said that helping prospective students and parents on their educational and career journey provided joy and fulfillment. In L&S, she developed a sustainable recruitment and scholarship operating model that will benefit future Panthers for years to come. And, she notes that the past year provided a unique opportunity to learn new things, steward MarComm through a transition period and ready the division for its next leader.
Brian expressed his pride in helping create the UWMRF and the LEC to strengthen campus engagement and connections with community partners. He cites the opportunity to work with innovators — whether faculty, staff, students or community members — among his most fulfilling moments, and he treasures the partnerships he built with organizations including Microsoft, Northwestern Mutual and Rockwell Automation.
Please join me in extending well wishes to Andrew, Deanna and Brian in their next ventures. They have each served UWM honorably and have advanced our missions of student success, research and community engagement.
Best regards,
Dr. Thomas Gibson
Chancellor