After 13 years in the St. Thomas communication and journalism department, Wendy Wyatt has accepted the position of associate vice provost for undergraduate studies at the university.

Wyatt, who has served as the COJO department chair since 2012, will begin her new position on Jan. 4, 2016. Wyatt said the decision to accept was difficult, but she is excited for her new role at the university. She will be responsible for coordinating the undergraduate academic experience.

“This was a really hard decision for me because I am very committed to COJO,” she said. “I’m exchanging 330 COJO students for 6,000 undergraduate St. Thomas students.”

Although taking on this role in the university was not in Wyatt’s long-term plans, she applied after receiving some encouragement from her colleagues.

“(I was encouraged) to express interest in the position primarily because of my work with our higher learning commission self-study, which gave me a lot of information about the university as a whole,” Wyatt said.

Wyatt will be working under Richard Plumb, the executive vice president and provost. Plumb said that he is looking forward to working with Wyatt because of the passion she has for the university.

“I had a number of very qualified candidates to choose from, but at the end of the day, Dr. Wyatt was the top candidate,” Plumb said. “Everything that she brings – the energy, the vision, the compassion for undergraduate education – (made her a top candidate).”

Junior Genevieve Gates, a COJO student, said Wyatt has made a lasting impression on the department.

“Dr. Wyatt is a staple in the COJO department,” Gates said. “Because of her, countless students have gone through the department with powerful experiences.”

Although Wyatt is taking on a position outside of the COJO department, she still plans on being involved and will teach the senior COJO capstone, Communication Ethics, in the spring.

“COJO is very close to my heart, and my discipline is really important to me, so I’m going to find ways to stay connected with that discipline.” Wyatt said.

Fellow COJO professor Debra Petersen is sad to see Wyatt leave the department but is also grateful for all of her positive contributions.

“We will miss her greatly, but she is leaving our department in very good shape,” Petersen said. “In just the last year she oversaw the hiring of three great new faculty members, and we finalized significant curriculum changes.”

Wyatt will continue to fulfill her duties as department chair throughout the rest of the fall semester but will still encourage students and faculty to stop by her new office in the spring.

“I am very committed to COJO. I have deep affection for my COJO colleagues … COJO students – I’ve loved being the chair in that sense, because I feel like every COJO student, all 330 of them, are my students,” Wyatt said.