Dear Colleagues,
Through six months on the job, I’ve had the opportunity to work collaboratively with folks across the Office of Academic Affairs (OAA). It’s a great group of people committed to academic excellence. I’m now in a good position to make staffing and organizational adjustments in OAA to pursue President Ravi Bellamkonda’s priorities and support colleges, campuses, and academic partners.
To that end, I am excited to promote Ann Talbot , associate vice president for strategic initiatives, to the role of chief of staff and associate vice president for strategic initiatives. She’s a dynamic leader who can manage complexity. In her expanded capacity, Ann will continue to serve as the primary lead for academic excellence strategy by setting priorities, providing direction and advancing success metrics. In addition, she will serve as a key consultant to academic leaders on administration, communications, strategy and operational effectiveness and coordinate OAA’s work with university leaders and their offices, including the Office of the President and the Board of Trustees office. Ann joined OAA in 2025 after having arrived at Ohio State in 2021 as the lead of the Scarlet & Gray Advantage program.
I am also excited to promote Stephen Begala to senior director of OAA Marketing and Communications. Stephen is an exceptional communicator and collaborator. In his new role, I have asked Stephen to lead efforts to better connect OAA with marketing and communications leaders across Ohio State’s colleges, campuses and academic units so we can work more effectively as an enterprise. Most recently, he served as OAA’s associate director of digital strategy and operations, where he focused on leading executive strategy, integrated marketing and communications, and operational direction. Stephen joined Ohio State in 2020 as OAA’s digital communications strategist. Previously, he held roles with the state of Ohio.
Stephen and OAA Marketing and Communications will continue to report to Ann.
Finally, OAA will launch a national search for a new senior vice provost for academic affairs and student success. This position will organize OAA’s academic units to partner with colleges and campuses to advance our student success priorities and initiatives. I have asked Patrick Louchouarn, senior vice provost for leadership and external engagement, to lead the search and establish a search advisory committee, in partnership with the Office of Human Resources Executive Recruitment team and an executive search firm.
Additional details and the search advisory committee members will be shared in the weeks ahead as we officially launch the search.
I continue to be impressed and inspired by the commitment and professionalism of the entire OAA team, and I look forward to our continued successes in support of academic excellence at Ohio State.
Sincerely,
Trevor Brown
Interim Executive Vice President and Provost