Bichelmeyer Named New UMKC Provost

Photo by Janet Rogers, Division of Strategic Marketing and Communications

Kansas City native was a vice president at Indiana University

Barbara A. Bichelmeyer, Ph.D., has been appointed Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost of the University of Missouri-Kansas City by Chancellor Leo E. Morton.

Bichelmeyer, a Kansas City native, most recently has served as Executive Associate Vice President for University Academic Affairs and Senior Director of the Office of Online Education at Indiana University in Bloomington. She will begin duties at UMKC in mid-September.

She brings extensive experience in oversight of academic affairs, student success initiatives and online education, and spent a year as interim chancellor of Indiana University Southeast, an IU campus in the Louisville metropolitan area.

While she has strong roots in the Kansas City area, Bichelmeyer said the academic opportunities at UMKC are what spurred her to pursue the position.

“I’m really excited about the possibilities for the future of UMKC. The university has both unique strengths and unique challenges,” Bichelmeyer said. “This is a well-educated community that understands and appreciates higher education, which is a wonderful and vital asset as higher education undergoes a profound transformation. I look forward to collaborating with the entire campus community to assure that UMKC will thrive, and help Kansas City thrive, far into the future.”

At Indiana, she was responsible for strategic oversight of academic affairs for all seven campuses of the university, impacting 8,800 faculty and academic staff and 115,000 students. During her tenure at IU, she taught 18 different courses, sat on more than 60 graduate research committees, published 28 refereed articles, and is a member of the editorial boards of Educational Technology Research and Development and Contemporary Educational Technology. She is a two-time winner of the Indiana University Trustees Teaching Award (2001 and 2005) and two-time winner of the IU Teaching Excellence Recognition Award (1999 and 2000).

Chancellor Leo E. Morton said the campus had four outstanding finalists to choose from, but Dr. Bichelmeyer stood out. “She is the person best positioned to help UMKC maintain and advance academic excellence and fulfill our mission of research, education and service,” Morton said. “We are proud to welcome her back home to Kansas City, and to Kansas City’s university.”

Bichelmeyer holds a Ph.D. in Educational Communications and Technology from the University of Kansas, where she later served as a visiting assistant professor. She also has worked in private industry in the Kansas City area, for Intertec Publishing, the Johnson County Daily News and Sprint. Bichelmeyer was also a teacher and girls basketball coach at St. Thomas Aquinas High School, and was an athletics official in softball and volleyball in Kansas and Missouri. She has provided educational consulting services to clients including Microsoft, Allied Signal Aerospace, the NCAA, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the U.S. Coast Guard.

Bichelmeyer started her career at Indiana University in 1996 as an assistant professor, and moving through the tenure ranks to her current position as Professor of Instructional Systems Technology. She began her administrative career in January 2007 as Associate Dean of the Faculties. She later was named Associate Vice President for University Academic Planning and Policy (January 2009); Director, Office of Online Education (April 2011); Interim Chancellor, Indiana University Southeast (July 2013); and to her current position in July 2014.

“As much as we are going to miss Barb at Indiana University, we are thrilled that she has this terrific opportunity to assume a leadership position at the University of Missouri – Kansas City,” said John Applegate, executive vice president for university academic affairs. “Her broad portfolio of responsibilities and strong record of success at IU have prepared Barb well for this next challenge. She brings a deep understanding of the most pressing issues facing higher education today, as well as an extremely thoughtful and collaborative working style, to her new role that will serve her and the university well.”


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