With more than 40 years of service to the University, longtime University faculty member and administrator Lorraine Davis@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=staff&d=person&b=name&s=Lorraine+Davis@@ is once again being asked to devote her time and effort to the school she holds dear. After several high-level administration positions and two decades of teaching, Davis has been asked to return to Johnson Hall as senior vice president and provost.
“I’ve held a lot of positions here,” Davis chuckles, “but I love serving people, and that’s why I’m here.”
Davis began working at the University as an assistant professor back in 1972 after earning a Ph.D. in health education and statistics. She started out in the College of Human Development and Performance where she taught graduate research and statistics for 20 years before moving into central administration as vice provost for academic personnel.
Her extensive resume at the University includes vice provost for academic affairs, senior vice provost for academic affairs and vice president for academic affairs — the position she decided to retire from in 2004. Upon retiring, Davis remained active in University affairs, serving as an adviser and special assistant to the president and provost.@@http://provost.uoregon.edu/biography-lorraine-davis/@@
Davis’ educational background began with earning both her bachelors and masters degrees in mathematics and health and physical education from the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse,@@http://www.uwlax.edu/@@ before coming to Oregon to complete her Ph.D. in health education and statistics.
“I chose health education because I enjoy serving people and assisting people in solving their problems,” Davis says, “and health education is broad enough to deal with all kinds of problems.”
Lariviere announced Davis’ appointment on Sept. 19. Davis is working for the University again while Senior Vice President and Provost Jim Bean is recovering from a pulmonary embolism he suffered back in June.
“Lorraine Davis is a tremendous administrator who has proved herself more than capable of stepping into many roles at the UO and of doing so with vision and integrity,” Lariviere says. “As in every other position she has held, I know that Lorraine will serve with distinction as the top academic officer while Jim Bean is recovering.”
This is not the first time that Davis has been the go-to person when an important position needs to be temporary filled. Back in March 2010, she was asked to step in as interim University athletic director between Mike Bellotti’s@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=22667@@ departure and Rob Mullens’@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=staff&d=person&b=name&s=Rob+Mullens@@ appointment in July 2010.
“This is not something I sought, but I do it out of a sense of duty and love and gratitude for the university,” she says.
Davis’ duties as senior vice president and provost put her in charge of the deans from each school within the University, all academic affairs of the institution, student affairs, and oversight of faculty, as well as the cultivation of the total student experience at all levels.
“It’s really the delivery of the academic core mission of the institution is what the provost is responsible for,” Davis says.
Davis also takes input from faculty groups, the deans of each school and advisory groups on issues that face the University. One current issue at hand is the fulfillment of the University’s academic plan, which began taking shape back in 2008 and was redrafted twice in 2009. The plan states future goals and stresses that the University maintain at its core its mission of offering a liberal education.
Despite all of the work she has done for this school in her many positions, Davis says her fondest memories are from when she taught as a professor.
“Of any part of my whole career, the best part was when I was a teacher and I was engaging with the students and being energized by their learning and their hopes and dreams,” Davis says. “Moving from the teaching to the administration, I miss that day-to-day contact with the students, but in administration you’re providing the opportunities for those same kind of things to occur.”