Vice provost for education to step down

Vice Provost for Education Andrew Binns will step down from his position after this year, Provost Vincent Price said on Thursday at a meeting with Daily Pennsylvanian staff.

Price said he plans to assemble a search committee to identify a replacement for Binns later this year. This search will join those for two new deans — for the Law School and the School of Engineering and Applied Science — on the provost’s agenda.

“I’m confident we’ll have a great replacement there — for the same reasons that I’m confident we’ll do well with the dean searches,” Price said. “Andy’s been so effective that I think people will be keenly interested in stepping forward to occupy that role.”

Now in his eighth year as vice provost for education, Binns oversaw Penn’s reaccreditation process last year.

“He had no intention of serving for eight years, but he’s been so good at his job that for the last couple years I’ve been pleading with him to stay on,” Price said.

The vice provost for education is responsible for overseeing educational programs and University-wide educational policies that govern teachers and students at Penn, according to the Provost’s website. Price added that the position is significant, as the vice provost for education works closely with the graduate and undergraduate deans as well as the vice provost for university life.

Binns was out of the office and not immediately available for comment on Thursday.

Correction: A previous version of this article erroneously stated that Binns oversaw the search for new school deans. In fact, the vice provost for education does not oversee dean searches. The DP regrets the error.

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