People

Aileen Ball is the executive associate to the Interim Vice Provost for Academic Affairs.  She provides executive and administrative management in direct support of the vice provost and is the lead liaison and project manager for projects and strategic priorities originating from the Office of Academic Affairs. She provides public relations assistance for the Vice Provost, ensuring accurate and timely communications with diverse audiences. 

Before joining the Office of the Provost in 2014, Aileen worked for KU Libraries in a variety of roles, most recently as the assistant and project manager for the Associate Deans.  Aileen holds a bachelor’s degree in Classics from Knox College and master’s degrees from Indiana University in Classical Studies and Library Science.

John Colombo received his Ph.D. in Psychology (1981) from the State University of New York at Buffalo. After one year at Youngstown State University (1981-1982), and six years (1982-1988) as a research associate with the Bureau of Child Research at the University of Kansas, Colombo joined the faculty of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Kansas in 1988, and he has been a professor in the Department of Psychology since January of 2002.

Colombo became the third director of the Life Span Institute September 2007. Colombo also serves as the director and principal investigator of the University of Kansas Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center.

Colombo has previously served the University of Kansas as faculty chair of the Human Subjects Committee on the Lawrence campus (1993-2012), as an associate dean of KU’s Graduate School (2001-2004) and as acting chair of the Department of Psychology (2005-2006). He joined the KU faculty in 1988 preceded by six years as a postdoctoral trainee and research associate.

Along with being an active participant in the Cognitive and Brain Science and Developmental Science doctoral programs within the Department of Psychology, he is affiliated with three interdisciplinary doctoral programs: Child Language, Clinical Child Psychology and Neuroscience.

Tammara Durham joined KU in 1998 as assistant director of the Freshman-Sophomore Advising Center. She served as director of the University Advising Center from 2004 to 2011. Durham was named vice provost for student affairs at the University of Kansas in May 2012 after serving as interim vice provost since September 2011. Prior to that, she served as associate vice provost for Student Success since January 2011.

As the vice provost for student affairs, Durham is the senior student affairs officer for the main campus in Lawrence and is responsible for student life, support and leadership programs, student auxiliary services and student-supported wellness programs. The Office of the Vice Provost for Student Affairs coordinates and develops student support services and programs and serves as an advocate for student needs across the university community that contribute to overall academic success.

Durham received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Southwest Missouri State University and her doctorate from the University of Kansas in higher education administration.

Emily is the assistant to Diane Goddard and Linda Luckey. She joined the staff in the Provost’s Office in 2007 and previously worked in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Dean’s Office since 2002. Before coming to KU she was a paralegal for an amusement park and also worked in a law office.

Received her Bachelors in Economics in 1977 from Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT, and her MBA from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS in 1990.
 
Diane is currently the Vice Provost for Administration and Finance for the Lawrence Campus of the University of Kansas.  Diane is strategically leading the implementation of Changing for Excellence which is a comprehensive transformational review of KU’s administrative practices.  She works closely with the Provost/Executive Vice Chancellor on fiscal strategies for the campus, particularly in relation to tuition and the research foundation.  Her responsibilities as Vice Provost also include oversight of the campus fiscal and operational functions including the Budget office, Comptroller’s Office, Purchasing Office, Human Resources, Information Technology, Facilities Services, Design and Construction Management, Capital Planning and Space Management, Public Safety Office, Environmental Health and Safety, Sustainability, Parking and Transit, and the KU Card Office. 

Prior to becoming the Vice Provost for Finance in November 2008 she was the Associate Vice Provost/Comptroller for the Lawrence Campus of The University of Kansas.  As Comptroller since 1998 her principal responsibility included maintaining institutional fiscal integrity and accountability.  She has also served as Acting Budget Director, the Director of Purchasing and as Associate Comptroller at the University of Kansas.   From 1984 – 1991 Diane was Associate Director at the Kansas Geological Survey.  

Prior to coming to the University of Kansas she was the Chief Accountant/Controller at Yale University Health Services, New Haven, Connecticut.  She also served as Business Manager for the Yale University Art Gallery in the early 1980’s.

Jenny Mehmedovic is executive assistant to the vice provost for faculty development.  Her responsibilities include coordinating academic leadership and faculty development efforts, including programming for Senior Administrative Fellows, developing discussion forums for department chairs, and coordination of peer mentoring groups for a variety of faculty audiences.

Before joining the Office of the Provost in 2008, she served for 6 years in the Office of the Vice Provost for Information Services as coordinator of information technology policy and planning, where she developed and educated users on information technology policy for the university community. Jenny has presented nationally on topics including information security, records management, and policy development, as well as leadership, ethics, organizational and professional development, effective teams, and working from your strengths. She provides professional facilitation upon request to groups engaged in strategic planning, team building, and process improvement. Jenny has also been employed at KU in the Office of Institutional Research and Planning, and has held an internal audit position with Sprint. Jenny is a member of the EDUCAUSE Connect 2015 Program Committee and served as a faculty member of the EDUCAUSE Management Institute from 2009-2012. A 2005 Frye Leadership Institute Fellow, Jenny has bachelor's degrees in anthropology and Spanish and a master's degree in business administration.

Sharon serves as the Business Manager for the areas of Provost Office; Faculty Development; and Diversity & Equity. In this role she manages the area budgets including State, Endowment and Research funds and advises the Vice Provosts on annual budgets.

She works closely with the Campus Administration and Operations Shared Service Center to ensure any management desired reports are accurate and timely. Sharon supervises the administrative support staff for the Provost Office and serves as the office manager dealing with the day-to-day operations. Prior to joining the KU family she worked for 13 years at Kansas State University.

Chris Stoppel is the executive associate to the Vice Provost for Administration & Finance.  He provides executive and administrative management in direct support of the vice provost.  Chris is the lead liaison and project manager for initiatives originating from the vice provost.

Before joining the Office of the Provost in 2014, Chris worked in the Budget Office as a budget analyst.  He assisted academic unit budgeteers with their working budgets.  He created university revenue and tuition projections.  Chris coordinated KU’s undergraduate orientation in New Student Orientation/Office of First-Year Experience from 2007-2013.  He Chris was an Area Coordinator Senior in Residence Life & Dining Services at the University of Wyoming from 2005-2007.  He worked for Ehrhardt Keefe Steiner & Hottman (EKS&H) in Denver as a staff account from 2002-2003.  Chris has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and business administration (2001) and a master’s degree in accounting and information systems (2002) from KU.  He also has a master’s degree in higher education (2005) from Iowa State University.

Chris live in Lawrence with his wife, Meghan, and children, Oliver and Emily.  He is big fan and advocate for all things Jayhawk.