To: OSU Community
From: Alix Gitelman, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
Date: March 19, 2025
Dear Colleagues,
I am pleased to announce that Dr. Steph Bernell will serve as Dean of Graduate Education, effective immediately. Dr. Bernell is Associate Professor in the College of Health and previously served as Associate Dean in the Graduate School since 2016. As Dean of Graduate Education, Dr. Bernell’s work will emphasize graduate program quality and the graduate student academic experience. Provost Feser, Provost-designate Batten, and I thank Dr. Bernell for her leadership.
As Provost Feser wrote in late February, the University has undertaken actions to strengthen central administration of graduate education. To that end, the previous Graduate School was renamed the Office of Graduate Education and moved to the Division of Academic Affairs. The Division will continue to directly support Prosperity Widely Shared; provide high quality and responsive centralized services to support the academic experiences of all students; stimulate continuous improvement in undergraduate and graduate curricula and pedagogy; monitor and recommend improvements to the university’s academic program portfolio; establish and monitor institutional metrics for excellence in education at the university, college, and program levels; ensure high standards for university policies; and advance faculty and leadership development and excellence.
I will soon charge a workgroup to complete a division-wide, holistic organizational assessment to ensure that we are meeting these divisional goals. Broad participation and feedback will be crucial to the success of this assessment. Details about the assessment process and how you can contribute will be shared in the coming weeks.
Warm regards,
Alix I. Gitelman, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs