On June 24, University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos announced that Joel Hamernick, associate vice president for civic engagement, will assume the role of interim vice president for civic engagement and external affairs as of August 1, 2022. As announced earlier this month, Derek Douglas, the current vice president for civic engagement and external affairs, will be leaving the University on July 29 to serve as president of the Civic Committee and Commercial Club of Chicago.
Read more in President Alivisatos’ message to senior University leadership below:
To: Senior Administrators
From: Paul Alivisatos, President
Subject: Interim Vice President for Civic Engagement and External Affairs
Date: June 24, 2022
As you know, Derek Douglas will be leaving the University on July 29 to become President of the Civic Committee and the Commercial Club of Chicago. We will soon be launching a national search for the next Vice President for Civic Engagement and External Affairs. Until a new Vice President for Civic Engagement and External Affairs is in place, Joel Hamernick has graciously agreed to provide interim leadership for the Office of Civic Engagement (OCE), the Office of Federal Relations, the Office of Business Diversity, and Commercial Real Estate Operations, effective August 1.
Joel joined the Office of Civic Engagement in May as Associate Vice President for Civic Engagement. In this role, Joel has overseen the day-to-day work of OCE and begun to build civic engagement partnerships with academic and administrative units.
Prior to joining the University, Joel served as executive director at Sunshine Gospel Ministries in Woodlawn for more than 20 years, developing programming to advance youth outreach and enrichment, promote service learning, and reduce violence. In that role, he also founded Sunshine Enterprises, which has supported more than 1,000 neighborhood entrepreneurs on Chicago’s South and West sides since its inception in 2012.
I am deeply grateful to Joel for his willingness to take on this important role during the period of transition.
