Enku Gelaye, interim vice chancellor for student affairs and campus life, was named permanent vice chancellor, Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy announced on Wednesday.
Subbaswamy made the announcement via email to the campus community, highlighting Gelaye’s recent achievements that made her stand out from other candidates.
“I know that Vice Chancellor Gelaye will bring the highest levels of integrity, energy and vision to the position and I look forward to working with her on issues of importance to both our students and the entire campus,” he wrote. “We are fortunate to have her as part of the campus leadership team.”
Gelaye was chosen after a months-long national search. She has been associate vice chancellor and dean of students since 2011, while serving as interim vice chancellor for the past year.
Before coming to UMass, she served as an executive officer for the vice chancellor of student affairs at the University of California, Los Angeles from 2004 until 2011. She also served at the University of Southern California as interim director of student judicial affairs and community standards.
As interim vice chancellor during the past year, Gelaye led an organizational review and restricting process, making sure that services are committed to student success, resources are efficiently allocated and there is sufficient collaboration and shared governance. She also collaborated with academic affairs to assess the student experience and find ways to enhance it.
Gelaye was instrumental in the development and implementation of UMatter@UMass, a campus-wide initiative that promotes community responsibility and prevention of sexual assault, misuse of alcohol and drugs, bullying, hazing, harassment and violence and depression and suicide.
“I believe deeply in the work of student affairs and campus life, in our collective values and in the students who call this university and Amherst their home,” Gelaye said in a news release. “I welcome the opportunity to work collaboratively to ensure UMass Amherst continues to realize its vision as the premier student-success centered public university in the country.”
