Marcia King-Blandford has been named assistant vice provost in the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs.
In her new post, King-Blandford, who also is an associate professor of general libraries, will report to Dr. Penny Poplin Gosetti, interim vice president for academic innovation, and work on curriculum management, particularly transfer and articulation issues and compliance. Her appointment was effective Dec. 15.
She most recently worked part time on curriculum issues before the 2006 merger between UT and the Medical College of Ohio.
Ohio has extensive articulation agreements that enable students to transfer credits from the two- and four-year schools to most of the state’s four-year universities and colleges. The agreements ensure that four-year institutions like UT don’t accept credits from community colleges or other universities if courses fall short of certain academic and learning outcomes standards.
The agreements are important because Ohio is looking to state universities and colleges to help jump-start its economy — keeping industries up to date and developing innovations that can create new jobs by producing spinoff companies — and because keeping talented young students at home is critical, she said.
“The state has a huge interest in university curriculums and articulation agreements,” King-Blandford explained, “because they want students to be able move seamlessly between our colleges and universities. These issues impact faculty, students and staff.”
“I’m delighted that Marcia has joined the office,” said Dr. Rosemary Haggett, Main Campus provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “The number of issues that will cross her desk will be challenging and extensive. With her impressive background as a professor and knowledge of the University and curriculum management issues, she brings excellent experience to the job, and I’m confident she will do an outstanding job.”
King-Blandford, who is working on her PhD in higher education at UT, earned a master of library science degree from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in educational leadership from Western Kentucky University. She has been a member of the UT faculty since 1991.
