Associate Vice Provost Ellen Plummer retires after 24 years

Melody Warnick

16 Sep 2024

A portrait of a woman with red, curly hair and glasses — After a long and varied career at Virginia Tech, Ellen Plummer retired from her position in Faculty Affairs in August. Photo by Christina Franusich for Virginia Tech.

Editor's note: This page has been updated.

Associate Vice Provost for Academic Administration Ellen Plummer has never been one to do things by the book — and that remains true even as she retires from Virginia Tech after nearly 24 years.

Because she’s not exactly retiring. Instead, Plummer will spend the next year interning as a minister chaplain at Good Samaritan Hospice in Roanoke as she works toward ordination as a Unitarian Universalist minister. “I didn’t even want to do the chaplaincy, but the wiser people in my life were correct, so I did it and my life has changed,” Plummer said. “I’m on a new path.”

Virginia Tech’s loss is the community’s gain. “Ellen's wise guidance, deep experience, and boundless creativity have been invaluable to the provost’s office and Faculty Affairs,” said Ron Fricker, vice provost of faculty affairs. “Ellen is irreplaceable and she will be deeply missed, but I have no doubt that she will be an extraordinary chaplain and minister, continuing to inspire and uplift all of those she serves.”

A utility player

Embracing a role that’s vastly different from any she’s done before is standard operating procedure for Plummer. At Virginia Tech, for instance, she was hired in 2000 to direct the then-6-year-old Women’s Center. Soon she was asked to direct the Equal Opportunity Office, to establish the Commission on Equal Opportunity and Diversity, and to support the university’s strategic planning efforts, all while managing large grants and teaching classes in women’s and gender studies and higher education.

For someone who sees herself as a “utility player,” regularly stepping up to the plate to take on new challenges was a routine play. But her career took an unexpected turn after the April 16, 2007, tragedy on campus.

April 16, 2007

Along with many others, Plummer supported the extensive response efforts in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. Later that summer, she played a key role in the creation of the university’s Office of Recovery and Support and wrote and administered two federal grants aimed at providing support for impacted families, students, and the university community. Fluent in Spanish because of a childhood spent in Mexico, she played an important interpretive role for those families in which Spanish was their native language. And she also served as a Department of Justice consultant to universities who have experienced violent tragedies of their own.

Supporting faculty

Since 2008, Plummer has worked in the Office of Faculty Affairs, most recently as associate vice provost for academic administration. As a self-described policy wonk, Plummer had absorbed the value of policy and governance as tools to advance the university from former Associate Provost Pat Hyer. Drafting university policies, updating the Faculty Handbook, supporting university shared governance, and assisting the provost in his role as the executive academic liaison to the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors have all been key parts of her Faculty Affairs duties.

“Ellen conducts her work very relationally, so when things come up, she knows who to connect to whom,” said Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs Rachel Gabriele. “She pushes the boundaries of process and tradition and is willing to really put herself out on a limb to get where she wants to go.”

Advocating for women

As the supervisor for the Women’s Center in Faculty Affairs, Plummer has continued to advocate for the center that brought her to campus — and that she considers a point of pride. “The contributions the Women’s Center makes to the university are frequently unrecognized, in my opinion,” Plummer said. “I cherish whatever magic sauce I have been able to add to what the center does for faculty, staff, and students.”

The magic sauce, according to Women’s Center Co-Director Christine Dennis Smith, is Plummer’s affinity for people. “When Ellen and I first got here, the Virginia Tech Police Department [VTPD] wouldn't answer our phone calls. Today, the center and VTPD are close working partners. It was about repairing and building relationships, so we could solve problems together.”

Mentoring

Plummer relishes the ways she’s been able to develop talent and cheer on colleagues and former students in their careers. For instance, in 2002, she was the one to hire Frances Keene, now vice president of student affairs, to work adjudicating sexual violence complaints. Later Plummer encouraged Keene to earn her doctorate. “I knew Frances before she became famous,” Plummer laughed.

According to Keene, “Ellen would remind me what it takes to be taken seriously in the workplace. She's just always been a source of support and a thoughtful, funny, spirited straight shooter.”

Women’s Center Co-Director Anna LoMascolo remembers Plummer as a reassuring presence over the years. “I can think of so many examples over the course of my career when I have felt underwater, out of my depths, afraid, fearful, and she has been that person I've gone to who’s been there to buoy me up and reassure me that I have talents and skills.”

Encouraging. Reassuring. Buoying people up. Sounds like Plummer’s next job as a chaplain may not be so different from her Virginia Tech work after all.