Webber new Vice President for Community Affairs

Henry Webber has been appointed Vice President for Community Affairs. Webber, who had been Associate Vice President for Administration for the past three years, now handles all issues involving the University's neighborhood and surrounding communities, including maintaining strong relationships with community leaders in Hyde Park, Kenwood and Woodlawn, as well as with civic leaders and government officials. He is also responsible for overseeing the Real Estate Operations Department and the University Police.

A resident of Hyde Park, Webber has been on the faculty and staff of the University for more than 10 years. Joining Chicago as a Senior Analyst in 1986, in 1987 he was named Deputy Director of Financial Planning and Budget. He was appointed Assistant Vice President for Human Resources in 1989 and Associate Vice President for Administration in 1994. As Associate Vice President, he directed Human Resources, Real Estate, Labor Relations, Student Financial and Information Services, and Auxiliary Services. He also served as a lecturer in the School of Social Service Administration until 1994, when he was named a Senior Lecturer.

Webber played important roles in the University's recent Administrative Cost Reduction Program; the Faculty Retirement Program created in response to the end of mandatory retirement for university faculty; the negotiation of the new contract for operation of Argonne National Laboratory, the first performance-based contract for the operation of a national laboratory; and the outsourcing of the University Bookstore to Barnes & Noble.

"Hank's work has been exemplary, as reflected in the quality of the staff hired during his tenure and in our thoughtful and sophisticated responses to human resources issues," President Sonnenschein said.

Webber received his B.A. from Brown in 1980 and his M.A. in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard in 1984. He is on the board of directors of the Health and Medicine Policy Research Group, Horizon Hospice, the Fund for Community Redevelopment and Revitalization and of the Hillel Foundation at the University. He has also been on the faculty of the Foundation for Advanced Studies in International Development in Tokyo.