G.L. Black has been named to the new role of assistant provost and deputy dean of students. Black will report directly to Associate Provost and Dean of Students Mark Bandas and will work with and across all areas of the Dean of Students, which comprise Community Standards and Student Support, Student Engagement and Leadership, and Residential Experience.
“The breadth and depth of G.L.’s experience and knowledge make him uniquely qualified for this new leadership role, in which he will work collaboratively across our department and with academic offices and faculty to advocate for and support students,” Bandas said. “G.L. has been an outstanding member of our team, and I look forward to the new contributions he will make as deputy dean.”
Black is charged with guiding the collaboration of Dean of Students staff to develop, sustain and improve co-curricular programs supporting student success and the strategic initiatives of the university. He also will advise Bandas and all university colleagues on matters concerning students, student organizations, student services and programs, policy development, priorities and resource allocation. In addition, Black will support programs that advance a safe, secure, accessible and inclusive environment promoting students’ academic success, well-being and personal and professional development.
“I’m honored to have the opportunity to work with my colleagues across the Dean of Students and within the colleges and schools, and with our students and student organizations, to support the programming and resources to advance the student academic and personal experience at Vanderbilt,” Black said.
Black previously served as associate dean for Community Standards and Student Support in the Office of the Dean of Students, overseeing the operations of the Student Care Network, including the Center for Student Wellbeing, the Office of Student Care Coordination, and the University Counseling Center, as well as the operations of the Office of Student Accountability, Community Standards, and Academic Integrity and the Project Safe Center for Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Response. He coordinated the university’s honor system and appellate processes for students and oversaw student compliance with mandatory programs and activities, including the Protection of Minors policy. Black is the chair of the Campus Assessment, Response and Evaluation (CARE) Team and Welfare Panel to support students of concern and has served on the Chancellor’s Strategic Planning Committee on Mental Health and Wellbeing and the Provost’s Committee on Sexual Misconduct Prevention.
Since joining the university staff in 2011, Black has served as associate director of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity, assistant dean of students and director of the Office of Student Accountability, Community Standards and Academic Integrity, and as an instructor in the Legal Research and Writing Program at Vanderbilt Law School. Black was a member of the 2016-17 Vanderbilt Leadership Academy cohort.
Black earned his bachelor’s degree in political science and criminology from the University of Florida and his J.D. from Harvard Law School. At Harvard, he received the Dean’s Award for Community Leadership from Dean Elena Kagan, now an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. He began his career as a litigator at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York with a focus on criminal defense and internal investigations, labor and employment and antitrust work, and also practiced law at Shutts & Bowen LLP in Tampa, Florida, prior to coming to Vanderbilt. While at Vanderbilt, Black earned his M.Ed. in higher education administration from Vanderbilt’s Peabody College.