AUSTIN, Texas—Four finalist candidates have been selected following a nationwide search for a new vice president for student affairs at The University of Texas at Austin.
The candidates, selected from a field of more than 50 applicants, are Paul W. Barrows, Ph.D., a vice chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Peg L. Blake, Ph.D., vice president for student affairs at Boise State University in Boise, Idaho; Zenaido Camacho, Ph.D., managing director of Texas Tech Health Sciences Center at El Paso; and Juan C. Gonzalez, Ph.D., vice president for student affairs at Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz.
Campus interviews of the candidates are expected to be held the first two weeks in May. Students, faculty members, administrators and other members of the university community will meet with the candidates. Dr. Larry R. Faulkner, president of the university, will make the final decision in the selection process.
The nationwide search for a new vice president for student affairs began after Dr. James W. Vick announced in August that he plans to leave his position and return to full-time faculty status in the Department of Mathematics next May 31. Vick has been vice president for student affairs since 1989.
“President Faulkner instructed us to find someone with integrity, intuition and imagination,” said Marilyn Kameen, senior associate dean in the College of Education, who chairs the search committee. “The search committee sought to identify candidates with the unique blend of vision and the strategic ability to work with many people in moving the Division of Student Affairs and the university forward in the years ahead.
“The ideal candidate would have the ability to develop close, trusting relationships with our students and make them feel like their priorities are important. We believe we have identified those characteristics in the finalist pool.”
Barrows has been a vice chancellor with responsibility for several programs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison since April 1, when he returned to campus after a brief period of family/personal leave. From July 1999 to November 2004 he was the vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Barrows was associate vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1994-99 and associate dean for the university’s graduate school from 1991-97.
Barrows earned his bachelor of arts degree with a major in Afro-American Studies from University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1974, and master of arts degree in African history from State University of New York at Albany in 1974. He received his Ph.D. in history in 1990 from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities campus.
Blake has been the vice president for student affairs at Boise State University since July 1998. She had worked at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as associate vice chancellor for student affairs and as director of admissions from 1997-98. She also had served the University of Nebraska-Lincoln from 1995-97 as director of the University Health Center and from 1991-97 as assistant vice chancellor for student affairs.
Blake earned her bachelor’s, master’s and doctor’s degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She received her bachelor of arts degree with a major in anthropology in 1978, her master of business administration degree with emphasis in marketing in 1980 and her Ph.D. in post-secondary administration in 1988.
Camacho became managing director of Texas Tech Health Sciences Center in El Paso in 2005. He was vice president for student affairs at Rice University in Houston from 1994 to 2004. He worked at Baylor College of Medicine from 1993-94 as senior associate dean and from 1983-93 as associate dean. From 1975-83 he was assistant dean for student affairs at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
Camacho earned his bachelor of arts degree with majors in chemistry and psychology from Baylor University in Waco, Texas in 1964 and his master of arts degree from Baylor University in 1967. He received his Ph.D. in chemistry from The University of Texas at Austin in 1970.
Gonzalez has been the vice president for student affairs at Arizona State University, Tempe, since August 2003. Previously, he had been the vice president for student affairs at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. since 2000. From 1994 to 2000, Gonzalez was vice president for student affairs at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. He was vice president for student services at California State University, San Bernardino, from 1990-94.
Gonzalez earned his bachelor of arts degree in Latin American studies from Texas Tech University in 1974. He received a master’s degree in bilingual-bicultural education from The University of Texas at San Antonio in 1976, and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1981.
For more information contact: Marilyn Kameen, College of Education, 512-471-7255, or Robert D. Meckel, Office of Public Affairs, 512-475-7847.
