Starting Nov. 2, Tania Tetlow will step into her new role as Vice President and Chief of Staff at Tulane.

Tetlow is already a Tulane insider, a New Orleans native that attended the university as an undergraduate as well as serving on the law school faculty for 10 years. This past January, Tetlow became the Associate Provost for International Affairs in addition to her position as a law professor.

As Vice President and Chief of Staff, Tetlow will work closely with President Michael Fitts. As she describes it, she will be “working with the President to help implement his vision for the university, managing the president’s own staff, trying to handle the nitty-gritty details as much as much as possible so he can focus on the big picture.”

Tetlow’s arrival marks the end of Anne Banos’ 16-year tenure as Vice President and Chief of Staff.

Reflecting on her time as Vice President and Chief of Staff, Banos said that she is most proud of the work she did, along with many others, to help the university recover after Hurricane Katrina.

“I am certain I will never experience a more challenging time both personally and professionally nor a more rewarding time,” Banos said. “Knowing I had a hand in bringing Tulane from the brink of destruction to where it is now is something I will remember and cherish forever.”

Banos said that, though the position is extremely rewarding, it can be challenging to “balance all of the demands that come with the role.”

Tetlow is aware of the different demands she will have in her new role from students, faculty, staff and countless others.

“Her record of accomplishments in the academy and public service make her an ideal addition to the leadership team,” President Fitts said in his announcement to the Tulane community regarding Tetlow’s appointment.

Much of her work and research centers on issues of domestic violence. While at the law school, Tetlow directed the Tulane Domestic Violence Clinic, which provides law students to help represent victims of domestic violence.

Tetlow has been extremely active in the New Orleans community. She served on the mayor’s committee to help the New Orleans Police Department respond to sexual assault cases. She also served on the campaign to rebuild the New Orleans public library system after Hurricane Katrina.

“New Orleans is just my heart,” said Tetlow. “And Tulane is a big part of that. It is one of the largest employers in the city, it’s a beacon of light and has an international reputation, it’s part of what translates New Orleans culture and history and importance to the world.”

Tetlow is looking forward to furthering the president’s vision of Tulane as an interdisciplinary and international institution.

“That’s something that’s always mattered a lot to me,” Tetlow said. “I was an American Studies major as an undergrad here, which is an interdisciplinary major, and so I loved that as a student.”

Her research interests have also showed her the value interdisciplinary study.

“Because I’ve always worked on violence against women, I’ve always sought out my colleagues in public health and medicine and sociology and across the campus who care about these issues so I could learn from them,” Tetlow said.

Tetlow has already worked to further Tulane as an international institution through her position as Associate Provost of International Affairs. Part of that job was informing people about the extensive international work that Tulane already does, according to Tetlow.

“I’m excited to keep working on the ways that we get all the parts of the university to communicate well with each other about what we’re doing abroad so that we can maximize the work that we are already doing,” Tetlow said.

At the same time, Tetlow emphasized the importance of the university’s relationship with the New Orleans community

“This is a university that is both incredibly rooted in its city but also very much engaged with the rest of the world, unusually so.”

When asked what she is most looking forward to about the position, she said, “I think seeing all the ways that this massive institution runs and trying to be a part of helping it work as well as it can.”