Messages of thanks, collaboration and service to MU were shared during the welcome reception by new MU Provost and Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Latha Ramchand.

Held in the Reynolds Alumni Center, the event served to welcome Ramchand to the MU community on Wednesday.

Chancellor Alexander Cartwright began the event by thanking notable guests for attending and spoke of the process it took to gain Ramchand as an MU member.

Ramchand was selected after various interviews and meetings with the 21-member provost search committee. Cartwright then attested to Ramchand’s willingness to be active and work hard for the university.

“In the short time that she’s been here, it’s already obvious that she’s one who jumps in and is immediately going full speed,” Cartwright said during his introductory speech.

Ramchand began her position on Aug. 15 and spent that day attending the Department Chairs’ Retreat and volunteering to help freshmen during move-in day.

During his introduction, Cartwright also spoke of Ramchand’s intent to support MU students, staff and faculty. He said Ramchand’s understanding of learning and academia will help her and MU succeed.

“She’s very focused on solution-oriented, or what I call community-driven, and multidisciplinary learning and scholarship and I think that’s going to be essential to everything that we’re trying to do here at Mizzou as we move forward,” Cartwright said.

Ramchand was welcomed onstage after Cartwright’s introduction with a full room of applause. She thanked the audience, the search committee that approved her for provost and the supporters that she has worked with during her transition.

She quoted the adage “they don’t really care what you know until they know you care” and explained how she thought MU and the search committee exemplified this statement.

“That came through bright and pure,” Ramchand said during her speech. “I know this institution has been through some challenges, but let me tell you from the outside, that sentence about caring [was] what I embraced and that’s the prime reason [my husband and I] decided to move.”

Before taking her position as Provost and the Executive Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs, Ramchand served as the dean of the C.T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston since 2011. She managed the budget of five academic departments and oversaw student academics, faculty research and alumni relations.

As provost, Ramchand will “oversee all academic priorities, activities and policies,” according to the Office of the Provost website. This includes MU’s many colleges and schools, international programs and the Office of Academic Integrity.

Ramchand noted how the term “collaboration” has taken on a new meaning to her since beginning work at MU at the end of her address. From a simple noun, she said collaboration now pertains to the work that different areas of study all do together in great capacity.

“In these 11 days, you have shown me that starting right here, when we work together, magic can happen,” Ramchand said. “Awesome can happen.”

_Edited by Morgan Smith | mosmith@themaneater.com_