University of Houston President and UH Systems Chancellor Renu Khator announced Tuesday that John J. Antel will serve as the new UH provost and senior vice president as well as the senior vice chancellor for academic affairs for the UH System.
‘I see the office of the provost as critical to our future,’ Antel said. ‘Big ideas are necessary, but we also need accountability and results. I look forward to building an effective administrative team, creating strong internal and external relationships and working hard to build world-class instructional and research programs at the University of Houston,’ Antel said.
Prior to his selection as chief academic officer, Antel served for seven years as dean of UH’s College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, the University’s largest college with 8,000 undergraduates.
‘Dr. Antel is highly respected in the academic world as a researcher and as an administrator,’ said Khator in a UH press release. ‘He has a proven track record of promoting academic excellence and student success. Throughout his tenure as dean, his leadership in strategic planning and budgeting, program review, external fundraising, and the design of administrative and governance structures has been outstanding.’
Antel and candidates from across the country underwent a six-month review and interview process conducted by an 18-member committee, headed by David Francis, UH psychology department chair and Hugh, Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor.
After the search committee reviewed each applicant’s r’eacute;sum’eacute;s, top candidates flew to Houston and were interviewed at the airport. Based on those interviews, Francis’ committee recommended Antel and three others to Khator for final selection.
‘All (those recommended) were qualified and could do a good job,’ Francis said. ‘The single biggest difference was Dean Antel’s intimate knowledge of the campus. He knows the University’s strengths and weaknesses. Knowledge of the issues made him stand out more than other candidates because he will have the ability to address them immediately, overcome challenges and capitalize on opportunities.’
Antel will be taking the reins from interim-Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Jerald Strickland.
Antel, who holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of California at Berkeley and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California at Los Angeles, began work at UH in 1981 as an assistant professor of economics. He was named a full professor in 1995 and chaired the economics department from 1997 to 2002. He was a member of the UH Academic Senate Executive Committee from 1999 to 2002 and has chaired the Undergraduate Enrollment Management Taskforce since 2004.
