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Dixie Thompson Named Vice Provost, Dean of Graduate School

Dear colleagues,

Dixie Thompson

Dixie Thompson

I’m pleased to tell you that Dixie L. Thompson, associate dean for research and academic affairs in the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences, has been named vice provost and dean of the Graduate School.

She will take the post on April 1.

As vice provost and dean of the Graduate School, Dixie will oversee all aspects of graduate education here and at the UT Space Institute.

Dixie has a wealth of leadership experience and will offer a fresh perspective on how we recruit diverse and exceptional graduate students and provide a quality experience for them. As we complete the update of our strategic plan, Vol Vision 2020, we will rely on Dixie to help us define measures of excellence in graduate education, improve services for graduate students, and develop strategies to grow our graduate program.

A faculty member at UT since 1994, Dixie is a professor in the Department of Kinesiology, Recreation, and Sport Studies and served as the department head from 2008 until 2012.

Dixie has a bachelor’s degree in physical education and a master’s degree in exercise physiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a doctorate in exercise physiology from the University of Virginia. She attended the 2008 HERS Summer Institute at Bryn Mawr College for intensive leadership training in higher education administration and participated in the 2009–2010 Southeastern Conference Academic Leadership Development Program. She is a fellow and board of trustees member of the American College of Sports Medicine and a fellow of the National Academy of Kinesiology.

I want to thank Mary Albrecht, associate provost for accreditation, who served as interim vice provost and dean of the Graduate School after Carolyn Hodges left the post on January 1 to return to the Department of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures faculty. I also want to thank the search committee, led by Tami Wyatt, professor and assistant dean of graduate programs in the College of Nursing, for its fine work in helping us fill this position in a timely manner.

Please join me in congratulating Dixie and welcoming her to this new challenge.

Sincerely,

Susan D. Martin
Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor