Thursday, May 13, 2021

James J. Winebrake, UNCW Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, has been appointed to the board of directors of the Association of Chief Academic Officers. His term is slated to run through 2024.

Established in 2013, the ACAO provides a forum for chief academic officers across higher education to share best practices and discuss current issues while promoting educational and organizational interests of their member institutions.

Seeing this as “a terrific learning experience for me and others,” Winebrake said the opportunity to engage with highly talented CAOs from around the country is particularly important at this time, with COVID and other disruptions to higher education occurring. “My role on the board will allow me to influence the types of programming and professional development opportunities available to other provosts throughout the country and to give back through my service to this important organization,” he said.

Winebrake was appointed UNCW provost in July 2020. Though his time at UNCW has been a “trial by fire,” because of the effects of the global pandemic, Winebrake is impressed with the efforts to pivot to remote instruction, re-create spaces to ensure physical distancing and maintain student advising and engagement without the benefit of having everyone on campus.

“The spring semester presented challenges that we navigated successfully,” he said. “I was delighted to be a part of the recent in-person commencement ceremonies. I’m now turning my attention to prepare for a successful fall, when we plan to welcome all our students, faculty and staff back on campus.”

Prior to UNCW, Winebrake served as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he also chaired the Department of Public Policy. He holds a Ph.D. in energy management and policy from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.S. in technology and policy from M.I.T. and a bachelor’s in physics from Lafayette College.

-- Caroline Cropp

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