December 11, 2023
Dear Trojan Community,
It is my pleasure to announce that Suzanne Wenzel will serve as the next Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs, effective January 1, 2024. In this role, Dr. Wenzel will lead academic and faculty affairs for the university, as well as the USC Museums and Campus Wellness and Crisis Intervention. This role is essential to supporting all faculty at USC, enhancing our academic reputation, and serving as a trusted advisor to the Provost.
As a faculty member in the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, Dr. Wenzel holds the Richard and Ann Thor Professorship in Urban Social Development and serves as Associate Dean for Research. She has previously served as the Interim Dean of the Dworak-Peck school during the 2019-2020 academic year, was the inaugural chair of the Department of Adult Mental Health and Wellness from 2014 to 2019 and served on the UCAPT committee.
Dr. Wenzel has devoted much of her research to better understanding and addressing the health-related needs of marginalized populations through an interdisciplinary lens, particularly individuals who currently or previously experienced houselessness. She has served as the principal investigator on 10 grants from the National Institutes of Health and an investigator or collaborator on many other sponsored projects and initiatives. She is an American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare Fellow as well as an Association for Psychological Science Fellow.
In 2020, Dr. Wenzel conducted an evaluation of Los Angeles County’s efforts to expand and enhance services provided through permanent supportive housing. She served as a consultant on homelessness and housing for the White House Office of National HIV/AIDS Policy during the Obama administration and has also participated on peer review or consensus panels for the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Prior to joining USC, she spent twelve years as a behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation, during which she also directed research quality assurance for RAND Health.
Dr. Wenzel is the right leader for the Academic and Faculty Affairs office, as well as the USC Museums and Campus Wellness and Crisis Intervention teams. Her ability to think strategically and lead with compassion will make her a collaborative and inspiring leader. I look forward to the vision she will bring to the work and the benefits our collaboration will bring to the academic mission of our esteemed university.
As you know, Dr. Kelvin J. A. Davies will be stepping down as Executive Vice Provost on December 31, 2023. I want to again express my gratitude for Dr. Davies and the important work he has done over the last year to guide the offices and sustain their strong performance. We have been fortunate for his leadership and the past leadership of Dr. Elizabeth Graddy in this vital role.
Sincerely,
Andrew T. Guzman
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs