Provost Ka Yee C. Lee

To: Members of the University Community  
From: Paul Alivisatos, President 
Subject: Provost Ka Yee C. Lee
Date: December 9, 2022

Earlier today, Ka Yee C. Lee shared that she will be stepping away from her role as provost and transition to the newly created position of Executive Vice President for Strategic Initiatives. In light of this news, I write to express my sincere gratitude to her and for her leadership. Ka Yee is a trusted colleague and a true university citizen, and the impact of her contributions has shaped this university for the better.

As provost over the last three years, Ka Yee has led with integrity and skill. She helped steer the University through the myriad challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on building community and advancing the mission of the University. She launched major initiatives such as the Data Science Institute and led the recruitment of key academic and institutional leaders. Throughout her tenure, Ka Yee fostered the academic enterprise and strengthened research, teaching, and learning at the University. She and her team have significantly increased access to research funding and resources by supporting interdisciplinary research initiatives, implementing a new graduate stipend model, initiating a budget modernization process, shepherding new structures such as the new department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity, and expanding programming for diversity, inclusion, and belonging, among many other accomplishments. 

Ka Yee was appointed as provost by Robert J. Zimmer in early 2020, just before the University entered into a period of uncertainty and change. I am deeply appreciative of Ka Yee for the stable leadership she has offered to the University during this time, which included the thoughtful partnership she provided to me during my transition back to the University. Long before I returned to Chicago, I understood that Ka Yee was widely recognized as an exceptional academic in our shared discipline of chemistry. When I arrived, I had the good fortune of learning firsthand that she is also an exceptional administrative leader and colleague.

I am pleased that I will be able to continue to rely on Ka Yee’s wisdom and expertise as she serves the University as Executive Vice President for Strategic Initiatives. It is clear that some of the University’s most significant opportunities exist at the intersections of disciplines and in partnership with other institutions. These strategic initiatives need careful planning, the ability to identify and coalesce faculty scholarship with operational know how, and steady leadership. In this new role, Ka Yee’s expertise and experience will help realize several major opportunities for the University. Ka Yee will serve as provost until a successor is named and begins in the role. It is our aim to appoint that individual by the end of the winter quarter.

I intend to work closely with the faculty to identify Ka Yee’s successor. I look forward sharing that news before too long. For now, please join me in expressing deep gratitude for Ka Yee’s service to the University of Chicago as provost.