Page 12 - WesternU View Summer 2019

WesternU:

Strong Foundation,

BOLD FUTURE

By Rodney Tanaka

As he takes over as Provost and Senior Vice
President of Western University of Health Sciences,
David Baron, DO, MSEd, is grateful to those who

helped bring the University to where it is today, and

excited about what the future holds.

He especially wants to thank his immediate predecessor, Gary
Gugelchuk, PhD, for all of his contributions to WesternU.
Gugelchuk, who served in a variety of roles in his 33 years at
WesternU, retired June 30, 2019 as provost and chief operating
officer and is now Provost Emeritus.
“The only way we can ever really thank Dr. Gugelchuk
appropriately for all he has contributed is to continue to grow the
University and continue on the path that he started,” Baron said.
“We are building on the foundation of work that he and prior
senior leadership have had, and the only way we ever really thank
them is to continue to grow and expand and have them be proud
of where we have taken WesternU.”

Gugelchuk’s roles will be divided among key senior leaders – Baron
as provost, Dr. Clive Houston-Brown as chief operating officer and
Dr. Stephanie Bowlin as chief of mission integration. This division
of duties will allow Baron to focus all of his energy on the core
academic missions of WesternU’s nine colleges, including potential
program expansion within the U.S. and globally.

“I’m really excited about coming into a role where with the
experience, expertise and connections that I have I’ll be able to use
those to take our University to the place we hopefully all want to
go to together, a place of excellence in all we do,” Baron said.
“One of the primary roles of the provost is to make sure that
whatever we do, we do it in a way that we’re trying to achieve

10 | WESTERNU VIEW Summer/Fall 2019