New Provost Michael Ibba talks student experience, research and future of AI

Graphic by Sienna Lewis, Staff Photographer

Michael Ibba, former dean of Schmid College of Science and Technology and more recently the interim provost, has been officially instated as Chapman’s executive vice president, provost and chief academic officer, which he will use to expand research opportunities and explore artificial intelligence (AI) usage.

Ibba completed his undergraduate degree in biochemistry at Imperial College in London and received his PhD from the University of Manchester. After graduating, he continued his academic career as a postdoctoral scientist at Novartis in Switzerland, a postdoctoral fellow at ETH in Zurich and as a research scholar at Yale University.  

Prior to his work at Chapman, Ibba taught as an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen and in the Department of Microbiology at Ohio State University for 19 years, while also conducting research in his field.

Ibba was in search of an environment that would enable him to focus on his research while still working closely with students. At first, he was looking for another big school like Ohio State — until someone pointed out that a smaller school like Chapman might be a better fit. 

“I started to realize the biggest impact I had in my job was the people I trained,” Ibba said. “I realized that’s what I got the most satisfaction from.” 

Whereas Ibba would’ve been dean of tens of thousands of students at a bigger university, he was working closely with around 600 students at Schmid. This was a big pro of the job for the scientist. 

“I realized that other deans (at Chapman) were still doing research, they could still teach, and I thought, ‘this is what I’m after,’” Ibba said.  

Matt Parlow, the recently-instated president of Chapman, was chair of the search for a new Schmid dean when Ibba applied. The new provost was excited about the job opportunity and emphasized this with a story about his first tour of the Keck Center for Science and Engineering.

“There’s students at the Keck Center at six o’clock, writing on the board, (and) you can see the sun setting over the hills,” Ibba said. “There was that feeling that people seem happy.”

Ibba enjoyed his job as Schmid dean for five years, but he was brewing with ideas that he wished he could implement. That’s when he got a call from former university President Daniele Struppa, offering him the position of interim provost. 

“I’ve only been here five years, but Chapman means a lot to me, and I thought this was a really good opportunity,” Ibba said. “I have too many ideas for my own good sometimes — I think it’s from being a scientist — you might as well find out if you’re right.”

Now, Ibba is hearing the ideas and opinions of deans, faculty and students. In true scientist fashion, he is putting those hypotheses to the test. 

The new provost has been working on ways to maximize real-life experience for all students. He’s been working with the Center for Undergraduate Excellence (CUE) to enhance research, creative endeavors and out-of-the-classroom projects, with each major’s opportunities uniquely tailored to their studies. 

For some students, classic research labs with a professor would be most applicable, while others would benefit more from smaller group-based projects. He cited the Wilkinson Interterm Research Experience (WIRE) as one of the currently available college-specific programs, and said that he is working with CUE to develop more opportunities like this for different disciplines.

“You can improve an undergraduate’s experience, have retention rates improve and graduation rates improve if there’s more of not just classroom learning — if you have active learning, experiential learning, if you have different components,” Ibba said. “So my role is to help different colleges realize that in different ways.”

In addition to talking about the expansion of academic exploration, Ibba spoke about his thoughts on AI in the classroom.

“My goal is that neither you nor the instructor should care whether you use AI or not,” Ibba said.

Elaborating further, Ibba said that the technology can help students get past the initial learning phase and closer to developing an understanding using logic and reasoning. For that reason, Ibba said that AI can benefit students — as long as they are able to explain their work. 

“The idea is that it should be there for everybody to use,” he said.

Ibba also said that he is working with Information Systems & Technology (IS&T) to develop campus-wide guidelines surrounding the use of AI, as well as an educational task force, which does not currently exist at Chapman. 

He works closely with Parlow on these initiatives, saying that the president is receptive to his ideas and relies more on trust rather than micromanaging his team. 

Both Parlow and Ibba are new additions to Chapman’s administration this semester, following the leaves of the previous university frontrunners, Struppa and Bouchard. 

Struppa stepped down at the end of last semester after serving as university president for nearly a decade amid news of the university’s federal investigation and reorganization of the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) office. 

The former president announced earlier this year that Bouchard, along with former Vice President of DEI Reg Stewart, were being placed on leave without explanation. This news was met with protests led by students and faculty. 

With the introduction of new leadership, Chapman is creating a fresh slate to navigate the uncertain landscape of government interference in higher education, the effects of AI in the classroom and the national conversation on free speech.