Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor
The Office of the Provost is a multi-faceted unit with broad and diverse responsibilities ranging from the development of policy and academic program review, to data collection, implementation of technology and more.
Importantly, at its foundation, is a clearly defined focus on enhancing the academic profile and reputation of the State University.
Our Mission
The mission of the Office of the Provost is to raise the State University’s academic profile by providing the leadership essential to the attainment of increasingly higher levels of academic distinction and student success.
The Office seeks, through close collaboration with constituent campuses, to add value to each institution’s academic enterprise by:
(1) promoting scholarship, research and creative activity; (2) supporting the highest quality teaching; (3) ensuring student access to educational opportunities consistent with campus and sector missions and aspirations. The Office will accomplish this mission by aligning SUNY institutions with the national higher educational agenda and by fostering a culture of high academic standards, and equitable access throughout the State University of New York.
About Interim Provost David K. Lavallee
On September 15, 2009, upon recommendation by the State University of New York Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher, the SUNY Board of Trustees approved David K. Lavallee as interim provost of the SUNY System.
Most recently, Lavallee was provost and vice president for Academic Affairs at the SUNY New Paltz, a position he held for 10 years prior to returning to the faculty at the end of July 2009.
Lavallee earned his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, N.Y., and his Master of Science and Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago in Chicago, Ill.
Lavallee’s research in bio-inorganic chemistry has produced more than 60 peer-reviewed articles, two books and two patents. He has been awarded more than $5 million in research and training grants from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health and several other agencies and foundations. He has been an invited speaker at more than 125 universities and research centers in 11 countries and was a Fulbright senior research fellow in Paris in 1986.
Lavallee has also served as a research collaborator or consultant at several national laboratories, including Argonne in Chicago, Ill., Brookhaven in Upton, N.Y., and Los Alamos in Los Alamos, N.M. His teaching and curriculum work has led to the Catalyst Award, a national award for chemistry teachers, major grants from the Department of Education for science preparation for teachers and from the National Science Foundation for high school technology education.
Prior to his arrival at SUNY New Paltz, Lavallee was the provost and senior vice president at The City College of New York in Manhattan, a position he held since 1994. From 1978 to 1994, Lavallee was with Hunter College, City University of New York, initially as a professor of chemistry and biochemistry and then as associate provost. Before his tenure at Hunter, he was an assistant professor at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo.