Associate Chancellor and Vice Provost for Diversity

Dear Faculty, Staff and Students,

We are very pleased to announce that after a competitive national search, Dr. Amalia Pallares will become the new Associate Chancellor and Vice Provost for Diversity at UIC, effective February 19, 2018, pending approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.

Dr. Pallares is a Professor of Political Science and Latin American and Latino Studies and Director of the Latin American and Latino Studies Program at UIC, where she has been on the faculty for 22 years. She earned her PhD in Political Science from the University of Texas. She studies social movements in Latin America and in the U.S., focusing on the relationship between movements’ strategies and the collective construction of political identity and meaning. Dr. Pallares is the author or editor of several books and other publications, including Family Activism: Immigrant Struggles and the Politics of Noncitizenship (2014) and From Peasant Struggles to Indian Resistance (2002). Dr. Pallares has engaged in academic program building, fundraising, and issues affecting underrepresented students and faculty. Previous administrative positions include Associate Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences (2006-2008) and Interim Co-Director of the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy (1998).

Dr. Pallares will direct the Office of Diversity and be responsible for overseeing and guiding the units in that office; facilitating campus-wide efforts to enhance diversity and inclusion; and engaging the wider community around these issues. She will serve as an advisor to the Chancellor and Provost on many campus issues and initiatives.

We would like to thank the members of the search committee and its co-chairs, Dr. Teresa Córdova and Dr. Jane Rhodes for their commitment to this important process and its successful completion.  We also thank Dr. Charu Thakral, Associate Vice Provost for Diversity, for doing an outstanding job as interim Vice Provost over the past six months. Dr. Thakral’s service to the office and the university has been exemplary.

Sincerely,

Michael Amiridis
Chancellor

Susan Poser
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs