Interview with UIC Interim Chancellor Javier Reyes

Dr. Reyes had only been Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Illinois for a year before he was given the position of Interim Chancellor in July of this year. It was a position Dr. Reyes didn’t expect to be in for a while. He went into it thinking it would be more of a team effort, but has quickly learned that, at the end of the day, the responsibility is on his shoulders. He’s managed the position by having a lot of conversations and gathering a lot of input before making decisions, but ultimately the decisions are his.

Having looked a lot at how leaders collect information, Dr. Reyes makes sure to never close a door to another opinion. He’s made a commitment to his team to gather all the available information before making decisions. In return, he’s held his team to the standard of not disconnecting if they don’t agree with the decision that is made. Dr. Reyes knows it’s important to display a unified front.

When he was serving as vice chancellor, Dr. Reyes says they were preparing to reorganize how they approached student success. During that time, he began to form his provost leadership group. That proved useful as he moved into the chancellor role and needed to appoint others that he could work with successfully. It’s a major priority of Dr. Reyes’ to stay present with other faculty and staff members.

Having experienced both the provost and chancellor roles, Dr. Reyes believes he has a much better understanding of how a provost can support a chancellor and work closer with all the vice chancellors. Through his insights, he’s learned the demands on time and sense of urgency at the chancellor level is much greater. Provosts are there to help chancellors, and yet sometimes they’re not utilized because they’re on different timelines. Dr. Reyes is committed to getting them on the same page going forward so that they can achieve more together.

What You’ll Learn:

• How Dr. Reyes goes about making big decisions.
• How to be considerate of all input, but still decisive.
• The dangers of having a team not on the same page.
• The value of being able to shadow another leader.

Favorite Quote:

“We wanted to reimagine how we were interacting with all the different proponents surrounding higher ed for the last 2-3 years.” -Javier Reyes

How to Connect With Dr. Reyes:

LinkedIn

University of Illinois Chicago