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| Staff Newsletter | February 2026 |
Dear colleagues,
I often say that the work we do in the Office of the Provost makes the University go. The impact is especially visible when it comes to capital improvements on our campuses. For the past seven years, enhancements to Northwestern's academic and research facilities have been supported through the hard work and dedication of Associate Provost for Administration, Finance and Facilities Mark Francis. Today, I write to share that, after a busy season of helping us build a better Northwestern for generations to come, Mark will retire at the end of April.
During Mark's time at Northwestern, he has been instrumental on an array of upgrades in collaboration with Facilities and other academic partners: the renovation of the Donald P. Jacobs Center, the creation of the Querrey InQbation Lab at 1801 Maple Avenue, the installation of the Krios microscope and the recently completed renovation of Deering Library. He also has been a driving force behind projects in Chicago, such as Wieboldt Hall, the National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology and the NSF-Simons AI Institute for the Sky.
Amid challenging moments and budgetary constraints for the University, Mark has consistently offered wise counsel and impeccable execution. He will be missed, and I hope you will join me in wishing Mark well on the next phase of his life.
I expect to share information about the search for Mark’s successor soon.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Hagerty |
All about the staff |
Meet Jamiece Adams Jamiece Adams joined Northwestern in 2023 as Education Team Program Manager and Facilitator for the Office of Community Enrichment (OCE). Jamiece runs workshops, which are often offered to the entire Northwestern community, such as the series The Practice of Showing Up: Workshops on Compassion, Conflict and Community; Reflective Writing Sessions: Storytelling as a Tool for Connection; and OCE's zine-making workshop: Archiving the Self. Jamiece also handles the logistics for education team programs and collaborations, scheduling consultation calls, keeping in contact with CoLAB partners and supporting the creation of new educational content.
How did you come to work in this role?
I’ve worked in education for the past eight years in various capacities, mostly supporting students. In the more traditional sense, as a creative writing graduate student, a sophomore English teacher and adjunct professor. I was also the manager of education programs at a non-profit where I supported high school students and community members. Naturally, I feel like my position at Northwestern combines all the skills I’ve acquired as an educator to provide faculty, staff and students with creative programming that strives to instill a sense of community and belonging in everyone who participates.
Where did you grow up, and what do you like most about your hometown?
I grew up in different places across the Chicagoland area (Maywood, Bellwood, Westmont), but I consider Bolingbrook my hometown. What I like most about my hometown is that our women’s basketball team won four state championships. The TLDR is yes, I did make it to varsity, but my heart was set on theater. That is another story you can ask me about if you see me around campus!
What is something fun or interesting about you that people may not know? I co-founded an independent magazine. It’s called Disco Kitchen Mag. It’s a project I started with friends from graduate school in 2024. It’s been such a wonderful experience and creative outlet. Volume Three is coming out in March. I’m just very proud of this project and all the hard work we put into it and hope you check it out!
Staff who joined or started new roles in Office of the Provost units in January
Chicago Biomedical Consortium
Financial Aid
Health Professions Advising
Litowitz Center for Enlightened Disagreement
Northwestern Network for Collaborative Intelligence
Office of the Provost
Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching
Student Finance
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News, notes and need to know |
Spotted at the February Coffee with Colleagues
From left to right: Borislava Miltcheva, Assistant Director for Course-Support Programming, Academic Support and Learning Advancement (ASLA); Kate Flom Derrick, Assistant Director of Reflective Pedagogy, Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching; Sabrina Abdulla-Wolphe, Assistant Director for STEM Learning Support, ASLA; and Dreana Rubel, Searle Center Manager, Searle
Members of the Office of International Student and Scholar Services team (from left to right): Associate Director of Student Services Danielle Vogel, Program Assistants Mia Johnson and Lydia Weir, International Student Advisor Gwyneth Brits and Systems Analyst Associate Chris Huh.
Performance Excellence (PEx) Northwestern’s Performance Excellence (PEx) program is a year-round process led collaboratively by staff and supervisors. Its goal is to support individual growth, strengthen team performance, and enhance the effectiveness of departments and the University. Below is the timeline for the Office of the Provost 2025-26 PEx cycle.
2025-26 Timeline:
The Women's Center turns 40 The Women’s Center is celebrating 40 years at Northwestern. In honor of this milestone, in collaboration with the Office of Community Enrichment’s Education Team, the center has created an immersive digital calendar. It highlights key historical moments, shares anniversary-year programming and invites readers to reflect on feminist ethics of care, shared responsibility, intellectual rigor and collective flourishing. Explore the calendar.
In case you missed it
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Events
Key dates
More resources Help us build future newsletters! If your unit is working on a project that is relevant to the entire Office of the Provost, or if you have awards, honors or accomplishments to share, send an email to officeoftheprovost@northwestern.edu. |
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Learn more about the Office of the Provost |
