Marlene Tromp, vice provost for Arizona State University’s West Campus, has been appointed campus provost and executive vice chancellor, effective June 1.
Tromp will serve as the chief academic officer and provide academic leadership to UC Santa Cruz. She will manage the campus budget, guide the campus through long-term planning, and advise Chancellor George Blumenthal. She succeeds Alison Galloway who stepped down in December.
"In a competitive field of highly qualified candidates, Marlene’s commitment to excellence stood out,” Blumenthal said. “She understands and appreciates the culture of UC Santa Cruz. She embraces our innovative spirit, values the role of faculty consultation in effective shared governance, and is committed to diversity and to making educational opportunities available to all.”
Tromp’s priorities include engaging faculty in the creation of a vibrant academic and research vision, bringing an entrepreneurial spirit to the creation of new sources of revenue, providing focused leadership to support student academic needs, and growing the commitment to serving first-generation college students and a diverse student population.
“I am genuinely honored and excited to join UC Santa Cruz and its extraordinary faculty as they transform the lives of their already-remarkable students and transform the world around them with their discoveries,” Tromp said. “I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Chancellor Blumenthal and the talented staff, and I hope to bring my experience to bear in ways that benefit our entire community.”
In addition to serving as vice provost at ASU, Tromp is also dean of ASU’s New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences and a professor of English and women and gender studies.
Tromp was a full professor at Denison University in Ohio from 2002 to 2008 and served as chair and director of Women’s Studies. She joined Arizona State University in 2011 as director of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies, and worked closely with faculty to invigorate humanities and arts education.
Since 2013, she has been the dean of the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, a role that has her overseeing programs and faculty in mathematical and natural sciences; social and behavioral sciences, and humanities, arts and cultural studies. As vice provost, Tromp oversees the coordination of its seven colleges, the campus climate and vision, and collaborations with local governments, private foundations, businesses, and other academic entities.
Tromp has overseen the growth of West Campus, and aided the colleges in working collaboratively to achieve a sense of community. Under her leadership, the campus has increased internal resource generation, developed new collaborative degree programs, supported the faculty, and strengthened relationships with the community.
Tromp will join UC Santa Cruz when interest and awareness is at a record high. The campus received more than 52,000 freshman applications for fall 2017, a professor earned a $3 million Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, and a $300 million comprehensive fundraising campaign is nearing completion.
UC Santa Cruz, ranked by U.S. News and World Report as one of the top 50 universities in the world, continues to take innovative approaches to support its diverse student body, grow its Silicon Valley Campus, and further its international presence.
Tromp earned her Ph.D. from the University of Florida, M.A. in English from the University of Wyoming, and B.A. in English from Creighton University in Nebraska.
A Victorianist and cultural studies scholar, she reads the 19th century against the contemporary cultural moment. She is the author of Altered States: Sex, Nation, Drugs, and Self-Transformation in Victorian Spiritualism (SUNY 2006), The Private Rod: Sexual Violence, Marriage, and the Law in Victorian England (UP Virginia 2000), and more than twenty essays and chapters on 19th century culture.
Tromp’s faculty appointment is pending review by the UC Santa Cruz academic senate and administration.
