Vice Provost For Academic Affairs To Return To Full-Time Teaching
Dr. Dianna M. Vitanza, vice provost for academic affairs and associate professor of English at Baylor University, has announced that she will return to full-time teaching in the department of English at the end the spring semester.
"Dianna Vitanza has been of immeasurable help in the Provost's office and to me personally for the past seven years," said Dr. Donald D. Schmeltekopf, provost and vice president for academic affairs. "The range of her work has been perhaps unique among administrators at Baylor, from dealing with parents of students, to student athletes, to curriculum review, to a wide variety of policy issues, to faculty development, and to writing and publications, such as the Faculty Handbook.
"Perhaps nothing has been more important, however, than her wise and honest counsel given to all who sought her advice. She has been a loyal Baylor servant in the Provost's office; she will definitely be missed," he said.
A member of the Baylor faculty since 1982, Vitanza has served as vice provost for the past seven years. She has been responsible for university-wide activities related to faculty development, as well as the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core (BIC), and the interdisciplinary institutes, including the Institutes of Archaeology, Biblical and Related Languages, Biomedical Studies, Church-State Studies, Faith and Learning, Statistics, Air Science and Oral History. She also was responsible for the Office of Access and Learning Accommodation (OALA) until a year ago when the office moved under University Relations.
"I want to say how much I have enjoyed working with Dr. Schmeltekopf, with the other members of the Provost office staff, and with many other faculty, staff, and students across the campus," Vitanza said. "The experience has been personally rewarding and I hope my efforts have contributed in some way to making Baylor a stronger institution."
Vitanza holds a bachelor's degree in English and history from Baylor University, a master's in English from the University of Houston, and a doctorate, also in English, from Northern Illinois University. In addition, she has completed coursework in Victorian literature and culture at the University of London. Her areas of academic specialization include Victorian fiction and Victorian poetry, English grammar, rhetoric and composition. Vitanza has served as associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, director of undergraduate studies in the English department and as chair of the Faculty Senate and was the founding director of the English Department Writing Center. Prior to coming to Baylor she was assistant professor of English and director of composition at Eastern Illinois University.