Kim Grunewald named general counsel and vice chancellor for legal affairs

Colleagues,

I am excited to let you know we have a new member on our leadership team.

Kim Grunewald, a seasoned attorney who has served in our Office of the General Counsel since 2011, has been appointed general counsel and vice chancellor for legal affairs. In this role, Kim will oversee the General Counsel’s office and serve as an advisor to me and other senior university leaders on key legal and policy matters.

As you likely recall, Kim has filled this role in an interim capacity since last summer as we conducted a national search to replace our previous general counsel. While our search produced numerous talented candidates, Kim emerged as the best fit for us due to her extensive legal expertise, her familiarity with key partners and her ability to lead teams both inside and outside the General Counsel’s office.

Many of you have had the opportunity to work with Kim in her previous role as deputy general counsel for the Lawrence campus – a role in which she was integral to many of KU’s most important initiatives. In particular, she helped restructure our Office of the General Counsel to better integrate Lawrence and KU Medical Center legal activities; she guided us through unprecedented legal and policy challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic; she helped create the public-private partnership that enabled us to develop the Central District; and she continues to advise our engagement with external partners to pursue our transformational Gateway District project.

It is always exciting to welcome leaders like Kim into new roles, and I am confident the Office of the General Counsel will continue to do great work under her leadership. I look forward to her applying her talents and ingenuity to move KU forward in a way that benefits students, faculty, staff and the community. And more broadly, I look forward to continuing to work with each of you – our talented faculty and staff – to fulfill KU’s mission of education, service and research.

Respectfully,

Doug

Douglas A. Girod
Chancellor