Leadership
Jill Irvine, PhD
Jill Irvine is the Chief Officer of Professional and Continuing Education (PACE), a unit dedicated to providing access to the University of Vermont for a wide variety of learners throughout their lifetime. She began her role at UVM in 2021.
An increasing number of Vermonters and students across the country are seeking opportunities for furthering their education and certifications to enhance their skills. Formerly known as UVM Continuing and Distance Education (UVM CDE), the department has always focused credit-bearing courses and non-credit certificate offerings on professional development, career advancement, or opportunities for career change. However, with the ever-changing career landscape, UVM CDE officially changed its name to UVM PACE under the direction of Irvine. In line with the strategic vision of President Garimella to uphold the mission of UVM as a land grant institution and create more opportunities for workforce development, the PACE was moved directly into the President’s Office in the fall of 2021.
“The more I’ve learned about UVM’s role in the state, the more impressed I’ve become,” said Irvine. “In the wake of the economic disruption due to the pandemic, now is the time for UVM to step forward with big, long-term solutions to the economic and societal challenges that face the region. Providing access to highly relevant educational and professional development programs and workforce training is one such solution. I’m thrilled to join an academic community that is so profoundly connected to the state’s needs.”
Under Irvine’s leadership, PACE will continue its dedication to providing flexible, affordable access to the University of Vermont and facilitate access to the University’s resources for all who want to learn.
Biography
Dr. Jill Irvine previously served as President’s Associates Presidential Professor of International and Area Studies at the University of Oklahoma where she also served as Chair of the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, Founding Director of the Center for Social Justice, and Interim Dean of the Boren College of International Studies. In the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost, Irvine served as Director of Community Engagement, Vice Provost for Faculty, and Senior Vice Provost. In July of 2020 she stepped into the position of Interim Senior Vice President and Provost, which she held until July 2021.
As the Chief Academic Officer at the University of Oklahoma, Dr. Irvine provided academic and administrative leadership for instruction; research and creative activity; academic policies; institutional planning and budgeting; resource and enrollment management; recruitment, retention, and development of faculty; and instructional standards and oversight including academic advising. Responsible for the $500 million Academic Affairs budget, she managed 39 direct reports including all college deans, Provost Office staff, center directors, museum directors, OU Press, OU Outreach, Professional and Continuing Studies, Office of Enrollment Management and Advising. Among her most important initiatives as Interim Provost, Dr. Irvine developed and launched a new general education course required for all incoming students (approximately 5500) focused on cultural fluency, critical thinking, community engagement, and civil discourse.
Dr. Irvine earned a BA in History from the University of Michigan and a PhD in Government from Harvard University. Her teaching and research interests include social movements, political mobilization and violence, and transnational activism, with a focus on the intersection of individual and communal identities. She has written numerous books, articles, chapters, and government reports on ethno-religious movements and democratic transformations in Eastern Europe. She has just completed a multiyear project on foundation funding of social movements around the world. Her most recent publication is Gendered Mobilization and Intersectional Challenges: Social Movements in North America and Europe (with Celeste Montoya and Sabine Lang, eds.). Dr. Irvine has won awards for her teaching and service including the Presidential Professorship Award for “faculty who excel at teaching and mentoring students” and the inaugural Jill Irvine Leadership Award “in recognition of Jill Irvine’s extraordinary legacy of activism, scholarship and achievement.”
Irvine’s consulting includes USAID Democracy and Governance projects; the NGO Sustainability Index (USAID); and the Varieties of Democracy Project. She has received fellowships from numerous funding agencies including the National Science Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Fulbright Scholar Program, the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, and the International Research and Exchanges Board. Most recently, Irvine was campus principal investigator on a multi-year project to produce event data for use in social science research funded by the National Science Foundation ($1.5 million). She is currently co-PI on an NSF Institutional Transformation ADVANCE grant submission ($3 million) on the use of faculty evaluations to promote the success of female and minoritized STEM faculty.