Rohit Verma

Rohit Verma, dean of external relations at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, has been named founding provost of Vin University in Hanoi, Vietnam. His three-year appointment is effective July 1.

Verma joined the School of Hotel Administration faculty as a professor of operations, technology and information management in 2006. He has gone on to serve in several administrative roles, including executive director of the Cornell Institute for Healthy Futures (2015-18) and of the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research (2009-12). While at Vin University, he will retain his Cornell faculty appointment. 

The proposal to establish Vin University, a private, nonprofit university, was approved by the prime minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in March 2018. A year ago, Cornell announced it would collaborate with Vingroup, Vietnam's leading private conglomerate, to establish Vin University. Verma has led these efforts on behalf of Cornell since January 2017.

The goal of the collaboration is to create a world-class university that contributes to Vietnam's key economic sectors and the global knowledge-based economy. The Cornell team includes three staff members, eight faculty leads and more than 60 participating faculty and staff members, advising on everything from infrastructure and campus reviews to curriculum for 11 degree programs and faculty hiring.

Vin University is scheduled to welcome its first cohort of 300 undergraduate students in the fall of 2020. Eventually the university will have a student body of 4,000 undergraduates.

Through 2024, Cornell will continue to provide Vin University with advice on establishing a business college, which will include programs in hospitality and real estate; an engineering college, which will focus on computer science and mechanical engineering; and the university's general administration.

The University of Pennsylvania is advising on the creation of medical and nursing colleges.

Verma will oversee these efforts, as well as the recruitment of vice provosts, deans and other senior administrators. He will also serve as the dean of Vin University's college of business. He expects the university to be formally approved this fall, with an admissions campaign to begin soon after.