Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

Arcadia University

Glenside, Pennsylvania

Arcadia University seeks a collaborative and innovative academic leader to fill the position of Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs.   Founded in 1853, Arcadia University provides a distinctively global, integrative, and personal learning experience for nearly 4,000 undergraduate and graduate students.  Located on a beautiful residential campus with historic buildings in suburban Philadelphia, Arcadia is recognized as a leader in international education with sites in 11 countries.  Arcadia offers more than 60 well-regarded undergraduate and graduate academic programs across the arts, sciences, business, and education with a distinctive emphasis on application of the liberal arts, global experiences, and accomplishment in the health sciences to prepare students for a life of scholarship, service, and professional contribution.   

Arcadia’s undergraduate curriculum encourages students to engage in integrative learning, global reflection, and experiential learning, while creating opportunities for students to deepen their skills in areas as diverse as quantitative reasoning, writing, and visual literacy. Arcadia’s academic departments offer undergraduate Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, and Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in 39 majors and multiple concentrations; master’s degrees in 12 fields of study; two doctoral programs; nine dual degree programs, and 13 graduate certificate programs.  Arcadia’s College of Global Studies runs 130 programs in 12 foreign countries, each year enrolling several thousand students from more than 350 colleges and universities across the nation.

Reporting to Arcadia’s dynamic new president, the Provost is the University’s chief academic officer and leader of its academic enterprise.  A member of the President’s Executive Staff, the Provost is the second ranking officer of the University and serves as a leader of the institution in the absence of the President.  The Provost works in close collaboration with the President, Board of Trustees, Vice-Presidents, Deans, Faculty, and Staff in advancing Arcadia’s mission of teaching, learning, scholarship, and service.  The chief advisor to the President on all academic matters, the Provost offers energetic, innovative, intellectual leadership to the academic community and plays a lead role in the development of vision and strategy for the University.  The Provost ensures that Arcadia’s greatest priority is academic excellence and the personalized and holistic education of students, in order to develop leaders and global citizens instilled with a strong foundation of ethics who will make a positive impact on society. The Provost is a tenured faculty member with rank in one of the University’s academic departments.

An advocate for the faculty, the Provost actively participates in the recruitment and development of diverse, promising, and distinguished faculty members and directs the pursuit of excellence in undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and in faculty scholarship and research, developing programs that advance the common good, enhance Arcadia’s national reputation, and reflect the University’s commitment to community and global engagement and service.  The Provost promotes the University’s efforts to expand its scholarly capacity and oversees academic policy and curricular formulation and implementation.  The Provost manages the tenure and promotion process and provides for and supervises regular and timely evaluation of University faculty, deans, and academic administrators.  The Provost works closely with the Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs and promotes diversity and inclusion in all forms among faculty, staff, and students.  The Provost has direct reporting responsibility for Deans and Chairs of four colleges and schools in addition to graduate and undergraduate studies, library services, instructional technology, registrar, institutional diversity, sponsored research and programs, and Title IX.

Arcadia seeks a Provost with a broad academic vision; a strong background in scholarship and teaching; and a commitment to undergraduate, graduate, online, and global education. The Provost will be a passionate, accomplished scholar, strong leader, and enthusiastic advocate for academic quality, who understands the needs of Arcadia’s students.  The Provost will be committed to the vision of faculty as teacher/scholars; embrace interdisciplinarity and internationalization; engage with faculty, students, and staff across a diverse set of academic pursuits; be committed to the open exchange of ideas across campus; and lead Arcadia’s efforts to ensure timely student graduation and success.   The Provost will have a doctorate or other earned terminal degree and a record of teaching and scholarly or creative accomplishments warranting appointment as a tenured full professor. Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively, yet decisively; a track record of promoting student success with first generation students and enhancing the effectiveness of teaching and learning; and respect for shared governance will be important for success in this role.

Arcadia University has retained Diversified Search as consultants to the search committee.  Screening will begin in February and continue until an appointment is made.  Nominations, inquiries, and expressions of interest (cover letter, CV, and the names of five references) should be directed electronically in confidence to ArcadiaProvost@divsearch.com.  For further information, please contact:

Kim M. Morrisson, Ph.D., Senior Managing Director

Andrew C. Wheeler, Managing Director & Practice Leader

Holly A. Bowers, Vice President & Senior Associate

Diversified Search

2005 Market Street, Suite 3300, Philadelphia, PA 19103

215.656-3555

Arcadia University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer, m/f/d/v, and welcomes applicants from all backgrounds who can contribute to its unique educational mission.  For additional information, please consult Arcadia’s website at www.arcadia.edu.