The University of Georgia has new provost. S. Jack Hu, vice president for research at the University of Michigan, has been selected as the next senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, effective July 1st.
Hu was chosen among four finalists identified through a national search to fill the institution’s chief academic officer role. Libby V. Morris, veteran administrator, scholar and director of UGA’s Institute of Higher Education, has been serving as interim provost this academic year.
Hu, who also serves as J. Reid and Polly Anderson Professor of Manufacturing in the College of Engineering at Michigan, oversees a research enterprise that spans the university’s campuses in Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint and generates annual expenditures exceeding $1.5 billion.
In addition, Hu is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and currently serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the National Academies’ Transportation Research Board.
“I am humbled and honored to join the University of Georgia as its next provost,” Hu said. “As the birthplace of public higher education in America, the University of Georgia has a tremendous reputation for its commitment to excellence in education, research and innovation, and public engagement. I look forward to working with the campus community to build upon the university’s momentum in these important areas.”
His many accomplishments at Michigan include leading the development of Mcity—an initiative focused on connected and automated transportation—into a leading public-private partnership for research. He also has led the development of international collaborations in China, Israel and Germany.