In accordance with the principles of shared governance, the President is the Chief Operating Officer of the College, working closely with the Senior Leadership Team, and providing consultative leadership for the campus community and the Board of Trustees. The President also convenes the President’s Council, a crosscutting advisory group providing input on topics of campus-wide interest to ensure mission-centric and strategic College administration and informed decision-making, and to foster teamwork and workplace performance.
Interim President - Randall Lavender
Randall Lavender is a nationally and internationally exhibited artist whose works in oil on panel and sculptural tableaux are included in dozens of public and private collections and have been featured in numerous books, catalogues, articles, and reviews. Having served for eight years as Provost and/or Vice Provost at Otis College before becoming Interim President there, Lavender brings much experience to the President’s office, including with synthetic analysis, writing on all matters of art and design in higher education, strategic planning, budgets and fiscal oversight, space/facilitation needs, accreditation, shared governance, collective bargaining, organizational leadership, and survey research.
Professor Lavender earned his M.F.A. in Sculpture at Claremont Graduate University and a B.A. in Ceramics at California State University, Fullerton. He joined the Otis College faculty in 1983, following faculty appointments at Vanderbilt University, Claremont Graduate University, and California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He served as Associate Chair and Professor in Otis’ Foundation program for more than a decade before joining the College's Senior Team and serving as Vice Provost, and later as Provost. He has published original research, essays, and articles on art in higher education, educational psychology, contemporary culture, and best college art/design teaching practices in leading art education journals, including Studies in Art Education, Journal of Aesthetic Education, and Foundations in Art Theory Education (F.A.T.E.) in Review.
Lavender’s artwork and publications can be viewed here.
President’s Office Staff
April KullisExecutive Assistant to the Interim President |
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Doniell PetersBoard Relations Manager |
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Angila Romious, PhDDirector of Institutional Research and Effectiveness |
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Mahtem ShiferrawExecutive Director of International Partnerships
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