Provost announces leadership appointments, promotions

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University Provost Patrick Wolfe shared leadership updates on Monday (Sept. 14):

• Eric Barker will be promoted to senior vice president for health affairs, effective Oct. 1.
• Preeti Sivasankar will become interim dean of the College of Pharmacy, effective Oct. 1.
• Cherise Hall has been named senior vice provost for enrollment and student strategy, a promotion that took effect July 1.

Senior vice president for health affairs

Barker, currently the Jeannie and Jim Chaney Dean of Pharmacy and vice president for health affairs, becomes Purdue’s senior vice president for health affairs with executive ownership of the university’s strategic One Health initiative.

As senior vice president, Barker will continue to have executive oversight of the colleges of Pharmacy, Health and Human Sciences, and Veterinary Medicine in coordination with their deans. And with this broader role, he will step down as pharmacy dean, a position he’s held since July 2017.

Among Barker’s priorities will be coordinating multiunit faculty hiring efforts for One Health, as well as developing Purdue’s health and life sciences presence in Indianapolis, strengthening the College of Agriculture’s connections to One Health, and serving as the university’s lead for initiatives related to the state of Indiana’s One Health economic efforts.

He also will provide executive leadership for the Crossroads Academic Medical Institute partnership with Marian University and develop integrative health programs with key external stakeholders.

Interim dean of pharmacy

Sivasankar, currently vice president for research innovation and head of the Strategic Interdisciplinary Research division in the Office of Research, has been named interim dean of the College of Pharmacy, succeeding Barker.

As interim pharmacy dean, Sivasankar will draw on her deep expertise in healthcare, overseeing the college’s teaching, research and engagement missions while working collaboratively with stakeholders to advance its stature as one of the nation’s leading colleges of pharmacy.

Sivasankar will continue her oversight of the Lilly-Purdue 360 Initiative, the university’s $250 million partnership with Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Company for developing a shared research agenda for accelerating the integration of AI-enabled approaches in drug discovery, advanced manufacturing, data science and next-generation therapeutics.

A national search will be launched in the coming weeks for the next dean of pharmacy.

Dan DeLaurentis, Purdue’s executive vice president for research, will appoint an interim vice president for research innovation and head of the Strategic Interdisciplinary Research division in the Office of Research.

Senior vice provost for enrollment and student strategy

Hall, a Purdue alumna who has led the university’s student recruitment efforts since 2023 as vice provost for enrollment management, has been named senior vice provost for enrollment and student strategy.

The expansion of her role reflects the addition of university responsibilities including Boilermaker Opportunity Program Plus and a focus on increasing scholarship opportunities for students. Hall continues overseeing the Office of Admissions, Office of the Registrar, Division of Financial Aid, Strategic Student Communications and Student Data.

Hall was appointed interim vice provost for enrollment management in June 2023 while continuing to serve as vice provost for finance and strategic initiatives. Following a national search, she was named vice provost for enrollment management in December 2023.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a research institution ranked among the top 10 public universities in the United States. More than 106,000 students study at Purdue across multiple campuses, including more than 57,000 at our main campus locations in West Lafayette and Indianapolis. As a land-grant university committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 14 years in a row, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free.