USask announces interim provost and vice-president academic
Dr. Melissa Just (EdD) has been named the interim provost and vice-president academic of the University of Saskatchewan (USask).
Just will begin working with current provost and vice-president academic Tony Vannelli on May 1, and will assume full responsibility in the roles after he steps down June 30.
"Please join me in congratulating Melissa on this new opportunity," said Peter Stoicheff, president and vice-chancellor, who announced the appointment today. "I have enjoyed working with Melissa as dean of the University Library, and look forward to working with her in this role."
Joining USask as dean of the University Library in February 2017, Just has demonstrated exceptional leadership in that time, realigning library resources to best meet the ever-evolving needs of faculty and students in an academic area that changes quickly and constantly, while also leading the development of the library’s master plan.
Just brings a rich and varied background with extensive experience in academic and research libraries at a variety of major American universities. Prior to joining USask, she served as associate vice-president for information services, and director of New Brunswick Libraries, at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J.
Before Rutgers, Just served as director of the Biomedical Library at the University of California San Diego from 2009 to 2012, director of the Lee Graff Medical and Scientific Library in Duarte, California, from 2006-2009, and filled a variety of library leadership roles at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles and the University of California San Francisco, from 1995 to 2006. She also served as a library instruction adjunct faculty member at USC from 2007 to 2009. Just earned a Bachelor of Arts majoring in psychobiology at the University of California, Riverside in 1991, a Master of Library and Information Science at the University of Texas in 1994, and a Doctor of Education from the University of Southern California in 2007.
USask is beginning an international search for the university's next provost and vice-president academic, and will provide more information on the progress of that search as it is available. The appointment of an acting dean of the University Library will also be announced in the coming weeks.