Reyes Appointed Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs August 31, 2012

Dr. Pedro Reyes, Ashbel Smith Professor in Education Policy in the Department of Educational Administration, has been appointed executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at The University of Texas System.

Reyes has been associate vice chancellor for academic planning and assessment in the System’s Office of Academic Affairs since 2003 and recently served as executive vice chancellor ad interim after the retirement of his predecessor last December.

As a scholar, Reyes’ research, writing and teaching have focused on student success, particularly for children living in poverty, and education policy as well as issues of assessment and measurement. He’s raised more than $22 million in research development grants from foundations including the Spencer Foundation, Annenberg Foundation, Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Foundation, Texas Education Agency, National Science Foundation, Houston Endowment, Inc., Brown Foundation, and U. S. Department of Education.

The National Academy of Education has named Reyes a Fellow and in 2007 he received the Post President’s Award for heading the University Council for Educational Administration, a national consortium of higher education institutions dedicated to improving education administration. He’s been recognized with the Distinguished Faculty Award from the Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education and been named to numerous national committees to review the quality of university programs.

Reyes has been a faculty member at The University of Texas at Austin since 1991 and formerly was associate dean of the university’s office of graduate studies.

“Upon conducting a national search and meeting with exceptional candidates, it was clear that we needed to look no further than our own organization to find the talent we were seeking,” UT System Chancellor Cigarroa, said. “Dr. Reyes is highly respected by the presidents of our nine academic institutions, and he has been instrumental in providing strategic leadership to the campuses as each works to launch new innovations to enhance student success and other critical initiatives. As Dr. Reyes is fully immersed in the implementation of the ‘Framework for Advancing Excellence Throughout the University of Texas System,’ we are in an excellent position to achieve many of the objectives without a break in stride. The Board of Regents and I were profoundly impressed with Dr. Reyes’ vision and leadership while he served as executive vice chancellor in an interim capacity, and we’re honored that he has now agreed to serve in this extremely important permanent role.”

As executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, Reyes will work closely with the chancellor and Board of Regents on development of academic policy and strategic planning, oversee administrative activities of the nine academic presidents, approve university budgets, and evaluate tuition and fee proposals.

—Kay Randall, University Communications, 512-232-3910