Primary Responsibilities

• Serves as ATL’s Department Head managing all human resource, budgetary, and physical space needs for the office.
• Provides direct support to ATL’s Team Leaders that oversee the Faculty Development, Online Education & Instructional Design, Student Learning Outcomes, Assessment, and Accreditation teams, as well as the Academic Testing Center.
• Responsible for connecting ATL’s priorities to the university’s strategic plan and institutional accreditation goals while serving as the liaison to the Office of the Provost, Deans, Associate Deans, Informational Technology Services, and other campus partners and stakeholders.
• Represents ATL on multiple university committees, including serving as chair of the Joint Committee on Online & Distance Learning and serving as a member of URI’s Artificial Intelligence Taskforce.

Biography

Dr. Lavan has worked in Higher Education for more than 17 years as a change agent and leader in positions of increasing responsibility and oversight. He holds expertise in areas such as faculty development, program and course-based assessment, experiential and active learning (including risk management), diversity, equity, and inclusion support (for students and faculty), international education and study abroad, leading and contributing to university accreditation processes, and the development of professional development experiences for faculty focused on online learning, artificial intelligence, and faculty mentoring.

Now at the University of Rhode Island, Dr. Lavan serves as the inaugural Associate Vice Provost for the Office of the Advancement of Teaching & Learning (ATL). ATL serves as the university’s home for most of URI's faculty development offerings as it relates to teaching and learning (in person, online, and blended), supporting online education and instructional design, student learning outcomes and academic program assessment for accreditation, and the university’s testing center.

Prior to his time at URI, he served the University of Tennessee (2016-2023) in various roles including as the inaugural Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs & the Executive Director of Teaching & Learning Innovation. He also served as the Assistant Provost for Experiential Learning & Teaching Innovation, and as the Director of their university’s Quality Enhancement Plan, “Experience Learning”, where he led the charge and held the responsibility for overseeing the implementation of the university’s 5-year plan to remodel and reinvigorate active learning and experiential learning pedagogy in every college across the campus.

Before working for the University of Tennessee, he worked for Centenary College of Louisiana (2008-2015) where he served as the Director of Service-Learning, then the Director of Community and Intercultural Engagement, and lastly as the Director of Global Engagement. As the Director of Global Engagement, he led their campus's home for service-learning and community engagement, international education and study abroad, as well as diversity programming and professional development. He also served as the Interim Director for their institution’s Quality Enhancement Plan called "Trek", which was a three-pronged graduation requirement for all students centered in experiential learning. While serving as a full-time administrator, he also taught at Centenary for more than 6 years. 

Dr. Lavan began his career at Louisiana State University (2006-2008). During his time at LSU, he helped to lead their campus’s development of “Volunteer LSU”, which is the university’s center for community service and involvement. He also worked for a year with LSU’s Community University Partnership where he was lead author of a study called Lending a Hand: A Comprehensive Study of Single Mothers in Baton Rouge and the State of Louisiana.

Education

Ph.D. in Urban Higher Education  
Jackson State University, Jackson, MS.

Certification in Scenario Planning 
The University of Oxford, Said Business School, Oxford City, England

Master of Public Administration
Louisiana State University (LSU), Baton Rouge, LA.

Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
Centenary College of Louisiana, Shreveport, LA.