Vice
President and Chief of Staff: Joann Mitchell
In
anticipation of becoming Penn's next
president, Dr.
Amy Gutmann announced last week that Joann Mitchell,
vice provost for administration at Princeton, and Penn's
former director of Affirmative Action, has agreed to
join Dr. Gutmann at Penn on July 1 as vice president
and chief of staff, filling the position recently vacated
by Pedro Ramos (Almanac January 20, 2004).
Before
Ms. Mitchell was recruited to Princeton University
in 1993 as associate provost and affirmative action
officers served as director of affirmative action
at Penn for seven years. In 2001, Dr. Gutmann promoted
Ms. Mitchell to vice provost for administration.
Dr.
Gutmann said that Ms. Mitchell –expertly manages the
Priorities Committee, which consists of faculty, students,
and staff, and which recommends the University's annual
operating budget and sets all departmental budgets.
In addition to overseeing the budget-setting process,
Joann works closely with me on all administrative matters
and diversity initiatives, including the Target of
Opportunity Committee (a faculty recruitment initiative)
and the President's Task Force on Health and Well-Being.
She oversees Princeton's policies on equal opportunity
and affirmative action, and has been instrumental in
recruiting and retaining a diverse faculty and staff. Joann
has developed new strategies to advance equal opportunity,
such as Excelling at Princeton, a continuing education
program for support staff. Joann is also unusually
adept at managing complex personnel issues involving
faculty and senior administrators. She is an extraordinarily
talented administrator and will be a tremendous asset
to Penn.
In
addition, Ms. Mitchell is active in a wide range of
civic affairs. She serves as President of the Board
of the McCarter Theatre Center, and on the boards of
International Schools Services Inc., Association of
Black Women in Higher Education (where she served a
term as President), Women's Law Project, and the New
Jersey Supreme Court's Committee on Minority Concerns.
In 2002, Ms. Mitchell won the Princeton YWCA's Tribute
to Women Award.
In
1978 Ms. Mitchell earned an A.B. in psychology from
Davidson College. She earned her law degree in 1981
from Vanderbilt University and was assistant director
of the Opportunity Development Center there. Prior
to that she was an associate attorney with Manson,
Jackson and Associates in Nashville. Earlier she was
law clerk to the general counsel of Fisk University
for two years, and during the same period served with
the Tennessee Human Rights Commission.