Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

As the provost's chief of staff, Karen Gibbons served as an advisor to the provost; acted as a liaison to the deans, executive officers, and Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs (SACUA); and managed the provost's staff. She also administered executive searches in the provost's office, and coordinated development-related matters. Gibbons also provided staff support for the Academic Program Group and served as the contact person on publicity matters under the purview of the provost. Gibbons holds her B.A. in human resource administration and began her employment at the University of Michigan in 1970 and in the provost's office in 1990, where she remained until her retirement in 2012.

Gibbons's records comprise 31 linear feet and are divided into seven subseries. Her Committees, 1990-1998 and 1992-2011 subseries contains records she maintained for several important university committees. The provost's key staff regularly met in a group variously called 4+1, 5+1, 6+1, 7+1 and 8+1. The numbers refer to the quantity of the provost's staff in attendance, plus the provost, who is the "one." Generally the associate provosts attended, augmented by the chief of staff and assistant provosts. The records include agendas, supporting materials, and some notes, but no regular minutes.

The Academic Program Group (APG) is a regular meeting of the Provost's staff with the deans and directors of the various schools. For these meetings there are regular minutes, as well as agendas and supporting reports and memoranda. Within the APG records are the records of a retreat on the Future of the Faculty, hosted by Nancy Cantor in October of 1998. Faculty members gathered to discuss issues of faculty governance, non-tenured faculty, and balancing work and family.

The Foundations Fund Raising Committee was made up of selected deans, university officers, and provost staff. It was created to coordinate the university's communications with large foundations, such as the Ford Foundation and the WK Kellogg Foundation. The records are filed by meeting date, and include agendas, reports, and sometimes meeting summaries.

Gibbons' records also include materials on emergency planning at the University, which document plans for dealing with pandemic and flu outbreaks, active shooters, and other emergency situations. Other committees represented in Gibbons' files include several student-administrator committees, miscellaneous Office of Academic Affairs staff meetings, Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs (SACUA) and the Senate Assembly, and other project and task force committees.

Other series in Gibbons' papers contain her Correspondence Chronological Files, 1992-1996 and Correspondence Targeted Emails, 2004-2013. The targeted emails are correspondence sent out to the entire University population, including students, faculty, and administrators. Her papers also include Budget/Long-Range Planning Files, 1996-1997 , Personnel Files, 1988-2010, including staff searches for the Provost's Office; Reports, 1989-2006, and Topical, 1986-2013.

In 1993, Linda Gillum became the Assistant Dean for Student Programs for the University of Michigan Medical School and held this position until being appointed Assistant Provost for Academic Affairs in 1999. Reporting to the Senior Vice Provost, Lester Monts, Gillum's responsibilities in the Provost's office pertained to student academic programs and activities, such as overseeing Living Learning Programs and coordinating academic reviews. She also played a significant role on the Undergraduate commission and her records are the most comprehensive documentation from the Provost's office on this project, established by President Bollinger in 2000 to assess undergraduate education at the University and make recommendations for changes. Her records (4.6 lin. ft.) are composed of three series: Committees, which includes documentation on Michigan Learning Communities; Conferences; and Projects, which includes her documentation on the Undergraduate Commission.

Marilyn Knepp also maintained files on her responsibilities outside of budgeting. These files (8.1 lin. ft.) have been arranged into two series: Committees and Topical Files. The Committees series contains minutes, agendas, and other materials for various committees and projects Knepp served on, including the Administrative Data Delivery Advisory Group (ADDAG), the Committee on Health Insurance Premium Design (CHIPD), the Enrollment Working Group (EWG), and the University Budget and Finance Group (UBFG). Projects include MPathways and the Classification System Project, which focused on the re-classification of job titles within the University.

Lester P. Monts came to the University of Michigan from the University of California -- Santa Barbara in 1993 to assume the position of Vice Provost for Academic and Multicultural Affairs1 and a professor of music. In 1998, he became Associate Provost for Academic and Multicultural Affairs, a position that was retitled Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs in 2001. He held this position until 2014, when he returned to the School of Music as a full-time faculty member. In 2002, he was appointed to serve as senior counselor to the president for the arts, diversity and undergraduate affairs.

As Senior Vice Provost, Monts established awards honoring contributions to diversity, including the Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Award, the Shirley Verrett Award, and the Percy Bates/Don Deskins Award for Academic and Athletic Excellence. He also established several centers and programs, including the Center for Educational Outreach (CEO), the Center for World Performance Studies, Global Intercultural Experiences for Undergraduates (GIEU), the Council on Global Engagement, the Office of New Student Programs (ONSP), the National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID), and the Confucius Institute.

In his roles as Associate and then Senior Vice Provost, Monts was involved with faculty tenure and promotion review, enrollment management, fiscal operations, undergraduate affairs, and diversity affairs. Units reporting to him included: the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, Office of Financial Aid, Office of the Registrar, Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives, Office of Examinations and Evaluations, Office of New Student Programs, Arts at Michigan, Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, and the ROTC programs. Other units that reported to the Senior Vice Provost at various times included the Center for Educational Outreach, the Detroit Center, the National Center for Institutional Diversity, the Arts Consortium, the Confucius Institute, and Institutional Equity.

Monts also served on the board of trustees for both Ann Arbor Summer Festival, Inc. and the University Musical Society. In 2005 he was appointed a Thurnau professor. Academically, Monts is a leading scholar on the music and culture of the Guinea coast region of West Africa, focusing his research on the Vai people of Liberia. He has received honorary professorships from six Chinese universities and in 2010 was inducted into the Hall of Distinction as a Distinguished Alumnus at Arkansas Tech, his alma mater.

Records from Monts in the Staff Files were accessioned as part of other Provost's Office transfers. The majority of the records were created after his appointment as Associate Provost in 1998, with a few exceptions. Researchers using the Monts files may also want to consult the Vice President for Academic and Multicultural Affairs (VPAMA) records collection, which contains documentation on Monts' service in this position as well as some records as Associate Provost which overlap with materials found in the Provost's Office Staff Files. The series measures 43 linear feet.

Lester Monts files consist of seven series: Office of the Associate Provost Files, General Files, Unit Files, Budget Files, Chronological Files, Committees, and Awards. The arrangement reflects the original organization of the records when accessioned. While there are some records from Monts' service as Vice Provost, the bulk of the records date after 1998, when he became Associate Provost.