Director of Sponsored Programs
As you will remember, last fall Jayne Smith resigned her position as director of sponsored programs. Since that time we have conducted a national search for a new director. I am delighted to announce that Mary Wohlford will be the new director of the Office of Sponsored Programs. She has 31 years of experience in higher education administration, and comes to Drake from The Registry, the nation’s premier interim higher education executive search firm. Her most recent assignment for them was as associate vice provost at Suffolk University where, among other things, she worked to rapidly develop extramural funding plans in each of the university’s three colleges and across the institution, dramatically increasing proposal development from $2 million per year to $35 million per year.

She has extensive experience in grants management and sponsored programs in a variety of universities, including Suffolk, Albany State University, Kansas City University, and Des Moines University. She has been a faculty member in health science related fields at Kansas City University; Des Moines University, where she was a tenured associate professor in health administration and public health; and Indian Hills Community College. She has a B.S. in health information management from Stephens College, an M.S. in health care administration from Des Moines University, an M.A. in industrial design and technology from the University of Iowa, and a Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy studies from Iowa State University. Mary will assume her responsibilities at Drake on July 1. I want to thank Art Sanders and the members of the search committee for their good work in concluding a successful search.

Provost Mobile Office Hour
You can find me this week on Tuesday, April 19, 9:30-10:30 a.m., in the Cowles coffee shop. No appointments needed.

—Joe Lenz, Interim Provost