Our alumni who knew Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Professor Kevin Pitts when he served as our associate head for undergraduate programs (August 2010–January 2014) will remember the unflagging passion and energy he invested into improving the undergraduate experience here in the Department of Physics. He supported and enabled student initiatives, blogged extensively about professional development opportunities and physics-degree careers, and generously shared his vision and experience with our undergraduates. He built up the most diverse REU physics program in the nation and acted as a strong proponent of diversity, equity, and inclusion, not just in our department, but in physics and in the sciences in general.
An interview with Kevin Pitts, vice provost for undergraduate education and physicist
Our alumni who knew Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Professor Kevin Pitts when he served as our associate head for undergraduate programs (August 2010–January 2014) will remember the unflagging passion and energy he invested into improving the undergraduate experience here in the Department of Physics. He supported and enabled student initiatives, blogged extensively about professional development opportunities and physics-degree careers, and generously shared his vision and experience with our undergraduates. He built up the most diverse REU physics program in the nation and acted as a strong proponent of diversity, equity, and inclusion, not just in our department, but in physics and in the sciences in general.
A gifted teacher whose commitment to proven pedagogies has been recognized with numerous honors, Pitts also developed several courses over the years, for majors and non-majors alike.
As the College of Engineering associate dean for undergraduate programs (January 2014–August 2017), Pitts brought that same passion and leadership to improving the student experience on a wider scale and worked tirelessly toward the goal of equality of access to higher education. His broad-sightedness and effectiveness in this position led to his being tapped for his current post in the Provost’s Office, where his ability to work for positive change will strengthen undergraduate education across campus.
Q: How has your approach to improving undergraduate education changed over the course of the three administrative positions you’ve held, from department, to college, to campus?
A: At each level, I’ve been entrusted with essentially the same job, only at a different scale. That job is to ensure that our undergraduate students are receiving the best education possible and have access to the preparation and resources they need to be successful while they are here and after they leave. But in terms of day-to-day responsibilities, these three positions are quite different. As associate head, I got to work very closely with undergraduates in the physics department. As I have gone forward, I’ve had the opportunity to think more broadly and to interact with people with a wide variety of viewpoints. Taking all of this in, my goal has been to see the undergraduate experience from different angles, to be able to make a meaningful impact at each level.
Across higher education, I can see that priorities are changing and thinking has broadened. New innovative methods for educating across disciplines are coming into play. It’s an exciting time to be advising and supporting the efforts of folks across campus who are working toward bettering our undergraduate educational effort.
Q: At the department and college levels, you’ve been a strong proponent of equality of access to STEM education. Will you continue to pursue initiatives along these lines as vice provost?
A: That’s a good question. My responsibilities in this position are quite a bit broader than STEM education. This remains an important issue to me, and I’m still tied to engineering and science education through some of the access programs we put in place when I was associate dean. For example, AT&T gave us funding to support a K-12 outreach effort—I was a part of the effort and planning leading up to that gift, so I’m still plugged in to that program. And I’m the principal investigator on an NSF grant that we received to support low-income students. I have a great deal vested in that program and continue to be involved there as well.
Q: There has been a good deal of discussion at the national level about the rising costs of higher education and the crippling debt young people accumulate in order to get an undergraduate degree. What is your office doing to help make higher education affordable in Illinois?
A: Undergrad admissions is now part of my portfolio, as is the Office of Student Financial Aid. At the campus level, we’re doing everything we can to make the top-notch education we offer affordable and accessible to the brightest students. We’re freezing tuition again for Illinois residents this year. Scholarships offered at campus, college, and unit levels total more than $100 million in aid to our Urbana-Champaign students—that is separate from Federal Pell Grants and guaranteed loans. But the kicker is, if you look at the financial need of our student body, there’s still about $100 million in unmet need.
Scholarships are a big part of our current capital campaign. We are also looking at other ways we can bring in money for student support—and then of course, being thoughtful about spending the money wisely. We offer both need-based aid and merit-based aid, and we use it to attract the best students.
It’s important to realize that unmet need equates to student debt at graduation. On average, a student with loans will have $26,000 in debt at graduation. That’s a heavy burden that crosses over into the next stage of their careers.
The other question is, how many don’t come here because of the cost? This is all-important to diversity—not only in terms of racial and gender equality, but also cutting across all walks of life. This issue is important not just to me, but to the Provost and to campus.
To make positive changes in terms of access, we really have to step beyond our comfort zone, influencing students before they get to campus. We have several initiatives that work with and supplement the K-12 education system. In this, we have an opportunity to have a large impact on the lives of youth who won’t otherwise have access to educational opportunities.
Q: What are some of your goals as a vice-provost?
A: Access and affordability are a priority. Beyond that, I’m excited to facilitate cross-campus cross-disciplinary instructional efforts that are just now in early stages of development. Illinois is not a top-down organization, so we really want to support initiatives and bring people together.
Along these lines, campus is about to break ground on the new Siebel Center for Design that will provide new opportunities. While many schools have design or maker spaces, ours will be unique in being multidisciplinary and the nucleus of an innovative curriculum. No single discipline would own this initiative, which will encourage design-thinking, creativity with a goal, and multidisciplinary teamwork. Folks in fine and applied arts will play just as important a role in this as folks in the humanities or the sciences.
Below: Kevin Pitts taking part in a Physics Van demo when he was associate head for undergraduate programs in physics.
Access and affordability are a priority. Beyond that, I’m excited to facilitate cross-campus cross-disciplinary instructional efforts that are just now in early stages of development. Illinois is not a top-down organization, so we really want to support initiatives and bring people together.
Kevin Pitts
Q: What are the accomplishments you are most proud of in your three administrative posts?
A: In physics, it was helping students understand the breadth of opportunities available to them with a physics degree. I spent a lot of time and effort on that. Enrollment grew while I was there and part of the reason for that was that we retained students at a higher rate. Admissions rose only a modest amount over that period. Part of the greater retention was attributable to students’ understanding how in a 21st century economy, physics is an ideal degree, not just for those who want to pursue a graduate degree or be a high school science teacher. Our students are always smart, always well prepared—but to see them grasp the possibilities, that was very gratifying.
On the downside, we did not make as much progress as I had hoped on diversity—it’s still lagging in physics. One reason for this is again the misperception of career options, which we can overcome only through communication. And we have to acknowledge issues of climate in the physics field, which is male dominated. People from underrepresented groups do not always feel welcome.
We still have a challenge in getting people to recognize the intrinsic value of diversity. We all benefit when people with different backgrounds and perspectives come together to attack a problem, whether it’s physics or another discipline. Our field needs to embrace the benefits of a diverse workforce and work toward making that a reality. And we need to think long term to effect a change. People sometimes push back on the issue of diversity. To be clear, my hope isn’t to achieve a particular population profile, it’s just opening the opportunity, giving equal access.
Q: What about at the college level—what was your greatest achievement as associate dean?
A: I was able to assemble a very strong and diverse team. Dean Cangellaris gave me a good deal of freedom. I’m proud that I empowered our team to do great things. For example, we instituted an academic-support program, a new degree program in innovation and entrepreneurship in technology, study abroad opportunities, and some amazing innovations in the classroom. I’m very proud of what our team did. The student experience and education is better than ever, and it was a joy to work with a very dedicated, very talented team in the Engineering College.
Also, with NSF and Grainger Foundation support, we developed a new program that brings in students from a low socio-economic background who are bright and interested in an engineering degree, but may not have been allotted the same foundational instruction in math and science that most of our students come in with. Our student body is so high achieving, most have many advanced placement (AP) credits coming in. What about students who didn’t have access to accelerated courses or AP?
We’ve put these students on a five-year plan, where the first year is really the “bridge” to college and the advanced curriculum. We’ve also given them academic faculty mentors and are using a cohort model—the students live together in a dorm, taking as many classes together as scheduling allows.
We held a dedicated orientation for this group, covering life skills, study skills, and engineering project opportunities. I remember, I asked them, how many of you know what an internship is? Nobody raised a hand. Many are the first in their family to go to college. So we also do our best to teach the parents how to navigate the system. This is a new model—a new way to level the playing field. It’s providing access. The program is in its first year. I’m excited to see how it does.
Q: It’s early days, but what about in your current role?
A: We are starting a number of exciting initiatives focused around student success. One very interesting aspect of my portfolio is online education. Technology is really changing the way we view education in general and providing new opportunities to work with new learners. It provides access to students around the world and the quality of online courses is very good. I’m impressed with what we are doing now and see tremendous opportunities for the future.
Q: How has your background in research and teaching influenced the kind of administrator you are today?
A: I worked on the Collider Detector Experiment (CDF) at Fermilab from 1994 until it shut down in 2011, in fact we are still analyzing data from that experiment. It was an amazing experience because it was incredibly collaborative science. We needed to work together in order for the experiment to be a success. That collaborative approach is incredibly important in administration. I would also say that thinking systematically and understanding things from “the ground up,” which is what we always want to do in science, is a very helpful approach to understanding organizations, budgets and how to make progress.
I wouldn’t trade my research experiences for anything. Working on CDF as a postdoc and as a faculty member was one of the best experiences of my life.
Q: You have made seminal contributions to experimental high energy physics, particularly to our understanding of charge-conjugation and parity-symmetry violation in bottom quark decays. You’ve also held several research-related leadership positions. Given your current administrative responsibilities, do you still find time for research?
A: My research time is definitely reduced, but it’s still really important to me to stay involved in physics research. I’m no less passionate about physics research now, and it provides relief from the many meetings I attend! To be able to do both, it’s important to stay well organized and to prioritize—to distinguish between what needs to be done and what can wait.
I am still active on two experiments and still have a small research group here at Illinois: I’m working with two graduate students, a postdoc, and two undergraduates. My graduate students migrate between here and Fermilab, and I meet with them regularly by video conference or in person.
I am currently working on the Muon g–2 experiment, which began to take data in November 2017. It’s exciting science—the previous version of the experiment had an unexpected result that didn’t correlate with current theory. Now we’ve built a better experiment to further improve upon the precision of the measurement. Aida El-Khadra and other theorists have significantly improved the theoretical calculations. The next data-taking run will go for about two years. Our first peek at bits of data will take place this spring—we’ll see then if we need to refine the experiment. But we are still some time away from any definitive results. It’s exciting to be a part of it.
I have also had the good fortune to be able to participate in advisory and planning groups for our field. A couple of years ago, I served on the national decadal planning effort for high energy physics. And I currently serve on a committee that advises the Fermilab director and the U.S. Department of Energy on the U.S. efforts in neutrino physics. I enjoy helping to craft the vision for the future of our field, and it’s also a nice way to stay plugged into the broader research community.