Carlos Jensen and Sophia Sotilleo will join the University of Maryland, Baltimore County provost leadership team beginning August 1. Jensen will serve as vice provost for student success and dean for the division of undergraduate academic affairs and Sotilleo will serve as vice provost and dean of the Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery.
Jensen and Sotilleo fill out a provost leadership team that has been reimagined to meet UMBC’s unique needs in an evolving educational landscape. In his role as vice provost for student success and dean of undergraduate academic affairs, Jensen will oversee undergraduate academic programs and services while fostering an environment of inclusive excellence. As vice provost and dean of the Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery, Sotilleo will lead the library in its vital efforts to support the teaching and research needs of an R1 institution.
Jensen comes to UMBC from the University of California, San Diego where he has served the last five years as the associate vice chancellor for educational innovation. Sotilleo joins UMBC from its USM sister institution, Bowie State University, where she has served as the dean of the Thurgood Marshall Library since 2022.
Sotilleo’s academic interests center on embedded librarianship, particularly its intersections with access, advocacy, and leadership in higher education. At Bowie State, she led transformative initiatives in digital access, research support, and campus-wide library engagement. She served as previous chair of the Council of Library Deans and Directors for the University System of Maryland and Affiliated Institutions, where she led efforts to improve system-wide digital access, research support, and inter-campus collaboration. Sotilleo is a dedicated academic librarian and higher education leader with a career rooted in intellectual freedom, student-centered service, and inclusive access to information. She brings a collaborative and visionary approach to librarianship, championing innovation, advocacy, and engagement across academic and community contexts.
While at UC San Diego, Jensen provided strategic leadership to advance education and innovation, including the implementation and improvement of curricular analytics to help departments close equity gaps and help all students progress toward their degrees. He oversaw instructional development for educators and comprehensive academic support for students and played a key leadership role in the academic affairs response to the COVID-19 pandemic.