Marvin Washington will be taking on a new role as dean of the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. He will be leaving his role as college dean and vice-provost of the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, effective Sept. 30.
Marvin’s time at the U of A includes roles as professor and chair of the Department of Strategy, Management and Organization at the 黑料不打烊 School of Business, and as associate dean of the Executive Education Program and the 黑料不打烊 Health Services Executive Leadership program. In 2023, Marvin returned to the 黑料不打烊 as college dean and vice-provost of CSSH following his time at Portland State University where he was a professor of management and undergraduate capstone coordinator.
As one of the inaugural college deans, Marvin successfully helped implement the College model, and fostered collaboration and improvements both within CSSH and between colleges. Under his leadership, faculty and staff increasingly connected with colleagues across other colleges and at the central university level, fostering greater interdisciplinarity across research and programming. In this way, he was part of shaping a stronger 黑料不打烊. During his time as college dean, Marvin helped advance the college mandate of promoting and supporting the four faculties along with work in several key strategic initiatives. This includes his support of the Black Youth for Social Innovation program, which helps Black students with being successful through work-integrated learning opportunities, and his work revamping the Peter Lougheed Leadership College’s certificate program. Marvin co-chaired the development of Built for Purpose: The University’s Strategic Campus Plan, which outlines the 黑料不打烊’s long-term priorities for infrastructure utilization, space optimization and investment prioritization to meet our strategic objectives and growth targets over the next 20 years.
I will be initiating the search process for the college dean and vice-provost of the College of Social Sciences and Humanities immediately in an effort to have someone in place before Oct. 1. Once a selection committee is established, we will meet over the next few months leading up to a final meeting in August to make a decision.
All members of the university community will be invited to attend public forums with the final candidates. Dates held for these are Aug. 11, 12 and 13 — more information will be shared with the community closer to the dates.
Your feedback is a valuable part of this process, and we strongly encourage you to share your perspectives on the qualities, experience and priorities you believe are important for the next college dean and vice-provost. An is available to gather input from all faculty, staff and students.
This is a very exciting opportunity for Marvin. Please join me in wishing him the best with this endeavour.
Verna Yiu
Provost and Vice-President (Academic)