Jeff Thompson named Executive Vice President and Provost

December 13, 2021

Dear Wolf Pack Family,

I am pleased to announce that Jeff Thompson, a longtime faculty member and college and campus administrator, has been named Executive Vice President and Provost of our University. His appointment, which is effective immediately, comes following a national search and support from the Chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE), Dr. Melody Rose.

Dr. Rose sent the following: “I have appreciated my discussions with President Sandoval regarding this critical hire, and, having consulted with Board of Regents Chair Pro Tempore Carol Del Carlo, I am happy to support the decision to name Jeff Thompson the Executive Vice President and Provost of the University of Nevada, Reno. I wish the University every success under his leadership.”

Chair Pro Tempore Del Carlo added: “Dr. Thompson has a clear understanding of the University’s people, programs and mission that will help serve him well as the University’s new Executive Vice President and Provost. He has held practically every post an academic faculty member could ever hold on campus. Whether it has been as a professor, researcher, mentor to countless students and junior faculty members, department chair, or as a dean, he has always shown a unique ability over the course of his distinguished three-decade career to foster collaborative, genuine and highly productive relationships that have led to achievement and success. It is always a pleasure to work with Dr. Thompson, who epitomizes all of the best attributes we expect from our leaders in academic affairs.”

Dr. Thompson has served as Interim Executive Vice President and Provost of the University since December 2020. Prior to that, he was Dean of the College of Science for more than a decade. He joined the faculty of the Department of Physics at the University in 1991, at which time he started a research laboratory in atomic and molecular physics. He served as Chair of the Department of Physics and Associate Dean of the College of Science prior to becoming Dean of the College of Science in 2008.

As Dean of the College of Science, the college experienced a time of historic student achievement and faculty and staff productivity. This included record levels of enrollment, student diversity and faculty research. For the past year, his work has been instrumental in the University’s ongoing Strategic Planning process, as well as successfully steering the University’s academic and faculty affairs through a challenging time due to the pandemic.

Dr. Thompson is a graduate of UCLA, where he received a bachelor of science degree in physics. He received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Tennessee.

I wish to thank Dean of the Reynolds School of Journalism, Al Stavitsky, who chaired the search committee, and all of the members of the committee who spent a great deal of time considering candidates from across the country, in interviews and open forums with an excellent pool of candidates, and in providing valued input regarding the selection.

Please join me in congratulating Jeff on his new appointment.

Sincere regards,

Brian Sandoval
President