Dr. Jeremy Haefner, the provost and executive vice chancellor at the University of Denver, has been appointed the school’s 19th chancellor.
Dr. Jeremy HaefnerThe appointment, determined at the board of trustees’ recent quarterly meeting, comes after current chancellor Dr. Rebecca Chopp’s April announcement that she would step down in July due to serious health concerns.
In a letter to the university community, board chair Denise O’Leary wrote: “After extensive study, many consultations, and much reflection, the Board heartily concluded that our community has, in Jeremy, a national thought leader in student and faculty success, a great communicator, and an individual personally committed to advancing the university and further expanding our diverse and inclusive community and shared values. Since he arrived on campus, Jeremy has demonstrated that he is uniquely capable of carrying forward and enhancing the vision of our strategic plan, DU IMPACT 2025.”
During his time as provost and executive vice chancellor, the university said, Haefner has championed transparency and respect for shared governance by deepening faculty and administrative governance systems. He spearheaded efforts to share more regular and thorough updates on the university’s budget process, created more open and frequent lines of communication and embodied respect for DU’s teacher-scholar model.
Haefner joined DU last year and had served as a faculty member and academic leader in higher education for nearly three decades. He was provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Rochester Institute of Technology for 10 years.
Haefner holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa. His publications can be found in Communications in Algebra, the Journal of Algebra, American Mathematical Society journals and others. He also publishes on issues in higher education, including supporting diversity in university leadership and enriching the student experience.
