Provost Lisa Lynch is stepping down from her positions as provost and executive vice president of academic affairs, according to an email from President Ron Liebowitz sent to faculty, staff and students on Tuesday evening.
Liebowitz said that Lynch will be taking a sabbatical leave and will resume her work as a scholar of labor economics. Following her leave, she will return to Brandeis as the Maurice B. Hexter Professor of Social and Economic Policy in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. The process for selecting Lisa’s replacement will be announced soon.
“In all of her leadership positions, Lisa has been guided by a strong sense of fairness and by what’s best for the university. She has been a champion of innovation to improve the teaching, learning, and working environment on campus. She introduced policies and structures to advance the university’s diversity efforts, and to support students and faculty from underrepresented groups,” said Liebowitz’s email.
“Lisa oversaw the hiring of new deans in our professional schools and in the School of Arts and Sciences, the new vice provost of student affairs, the university librarian, and new directors in the Rose Art Museum, the Department of Athletics, and the Center for Teaching and Learning—a major contribution to the future success of the university.”
“Lisa also led the university’s successful decennial reaccreditation process and bolstered the university’s standing as a Research 1 university by increasing research funding opportunities for faculty,” the email continues. “And she played a pivotal role in the work of the four task forces that have given shape and substance to the university’s ‘Framework for the Future.’”
Lynch began working at Brandeis in July 2008 and has since served as Dean of The Heller School and Maurice B. Hexter Professor of Social and Economic Policy. She became Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs in October of 2014, according to her Linkedin. She served as Interim President from July 2015 to June 2016 after President Frederick M. Lawrence stepped down in 2015, according to an earlier Hoot article. Lynch has also served as a faculty member at Tufts University, MIT, Ohio State University and The University of Bristol, according to the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
Lynch is currently a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Economic Advisory Panel and has served as chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor, according to the Office of the Provost website. She has also served as director, chair and deputy chair of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and Chair of the Conference of Chairmen of the Federal Reserve System. Lynch served as president of the Labor and Employment Relations Association from 2013 to 2014.
“On a personal level, Lisa has been a superb colleague within my senior leadership team, and a valued adviser to me since Day 1 of my presidency; I am so grateful for her collegiality and selflessness,” said Liebowitz’s email. “I will miss her smarts, her deep commitment to the university, and her sense of humor. Her love of Brandeis is apparent to all who have worked with her, and it is telling that, among her greatest points of pride, is that of being the parent of a Brandeis graduate.”Lynch has served on the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 2008 to 2015 and the National Academies Committee on National Statistics 2009 to 2015, according to The Office of the Provost website. She is also currently a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a research fellow at IZA.
