Provosts' Council
The CAA is governed by the 12 provosts of its member institutions. This group is led by an executive committee.
University of Delaware
Dr. Daniel Rich
Provost
Dr. Daniel Rich has been a member of the University of Delaware faculty since 1970. He served as acting provost from August 15, 2001 until he was named provost in November 2002.
Rich served as dean of Delaware's College of Urban Affairs and Public Policy from 1991 until 1997, when he became dean of the reorganized College of Human Services, Education and Public Policy (CHEP).
A recipient of a University excellence-in-teaching award, Rich has numerous publications to his credit, including 13 books and edited volumes and more than 100 articles, monographs and professional papers. An elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, he currently serves on a number of national and international editorial boards.
His public service contributions include work with the Delaware Mentoring Council, the Delaware Foundation for Math and Science Education and the Delaware Public Policy Institute, as well as with numerous local and state agencies and nonprofit institutions.
Rich holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Brooklyn College, a master's degree in public administration and international affairs from the University of Pittsburgh, and a doctorate in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Drexel University
Dr. Stephen W. Director
Provost
Prior to joining to Drexel University, Stephen W. Director was the Robert J. Vlasic Dean of the College of Engineering and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan. He received the B.S. degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1965 and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1967 and 1968, respectively. From 1968 until 1977 he was with the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Florida, Gainesville. From September 1974 to August 1975, he was a visiting scientist in the Mathematical Sciences Department at IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY. He joined Carnegie Mellon University in 1977 where he was the U.A. and Helen Whitaker University Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and served as Head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering from 1982 to 1991 and then Dean of the College of Engineering until June of 1996. In 1982, he founded the SRC-CMU Research Center for Computer-Aided Design and served as its Director from 1982 to 1989.
Dr. Director is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). He has served as President of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society, as Chairman of the CASS Technical Committee on Computer-Aided Network Design (CANDE) and as associate editor of the IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems.
He currently serves as Chair of the National Academy of Engineering Committee on Engineering Education and also serves on numerous other boards and committees and as a consultant to industry, government and academia. He served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Society for Engineering Education Engineering Deans Council from June 1999 through June 2001.
Director has published over 150 papers and authored or co-authored six texts. He has also received numerous awards for his research and educational contributions.
George Mason University
Dr. Peter N. Stearns
Provost
Peter N. Stearns was named Provost of George Mason University January 1, 2000. He also regularly teaches courses in world history and social history. Stearns received his Ph.D. from Harvard University, and is a graduate of Harvard College.
Prior to coming to George Mason, Stearns taught at Harvard, at the University of Chicago,at Rutgers University (where he chaired the New Brunswick History Department), and at Carnegie Mellon University, where he was Heinz Professor of History. He served as Dean of Carnegie Mellon's College of Humanities and Social Sciences from 1992 to 2000.
Past Vice President of the American Historical Association, in charge of the Teaching Division, Stearns also served as chair of the Advanced Placement World History committee. He founded and continues to serve as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Social History.
Author or editor of more than 100 books, Stearns recently published Revolutions in Sorrow: A History of American Experiences and Policies Toward Death in Global Context.
Georgia State University
Dr. Ronald J. Henry
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Ronald J. Henry has been in his current position as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Georgia State University since July 1994.
He is involved extensively in state and national education policy and action committees, including University System of Georgia, state and local P-16, NASULGC Chief Academic Officers, Committee on Undergraduate Science Education of the National Research Council, NCATE Appeals Board, and SREB National Leadership Council.
Henry is the principal investigator for the Quality in Undergraduate Education project funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the ExxonMobil Foundation. He is also the principal investigator on a Standards-based Teacher Education Project funded by CBE, AACTE and by a Title II grant for the University System of Georgia. Henry holds a Ph.D. degree in applied mathematics from Queens University of Belfast, North Ireland.
Hofstra University
Dr. Herman A. Berliner
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Lawrence Herbert Distinguished Professor
Herman A. Berliner is in his 38th year at Hofstra University. He became provost at Hofstra University in 1990 after having served for almost one year as the acting provost.
Berliner joined Hofstra in 1970 as an assistant professor of economics after having earned a Ph.D. in economics from the City University of New York Graduate School. He was awarded tenure in 1975, promoted to associate professor in 1978 and to professor in 1985. As a faculty member, Berliner has taught economics courses on both the graduate and undergraduate levels, and he has also served on a number of doctoral dissertation committees for the School of Education and Allied Human Services.
He has served in a number of key administrative positions, including interim dean and dean of the School of Business (1980-1982 and 1983-1989), associate provost and associate dean of faculties (1978-1983), acting dean of the School of Education (1983-1984), associate dean of University Advisement (1975-1976) and assistant provost (1976-1977).
Provost Berliner played a vital role in the establishment of the School of Communication and the School for University Studies, the first new Schools established at the University since 1970. More recently, under his leadership, two additional colleges have been established at the university: Honors College and Saturday College.
Berliner's areas of specialty as an economist include the economics of higher education, and he is presently a TiAA/CREF Fellow as well as an associate editor of The American Economist.
James Madison University
Dr. Douglas T. Brown
Provost and Sr. Vice President for Academic Affairs
Douglas T. Brown is currently Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at James Madison University and in this capacity has responsibility for oversight of all academic programs. He is a Professor of Psychology and a fellow of the American Psychological Association. He is a clinical psychologist, who specializes in behavioral and pharmacological treatment of the developmentally disabled. At James Madison University, he has also held the positions of Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Head of the Psychology Department.
Brown has served in numerous capacities at the national level and has published over 85 articles and books. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Monmouth College in 1965, his Master of Arts degree from Vanderbilt University in 1968, and his Ph. D. from Indiana University in 1974.
University of North Carolina-Wilmington
Dr. Paul Hosier
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
Paul E. Hosier has served as Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs since 2004. Prior to that appointment, he served as interim provost for two years and associate vice chancellor for academic affairs for several years.
A 35-year veteran of UNCW, he came to UNCW in 1972 as Assistant Professor of Biology to study ecological and geologic processes on barrier islands and beaches in the southeastern United States. He received his doctorate from Duke University and M.A. from the University of Massachusetts.
Northeastern University
Dr. Ahmed T. Abdelal
Provost and Sr. Vice President for Academic Affairs
Ahmed Abdelal became Northeastern University's eighth provost on August 1, 2002.
As provost, Abdelal serves as the chief academic officer of the university, reporting directly to President Richard Freeland as the senior vice president for academic affairs. He is responsible for all academic programs offered by the university and for personnel engaged in carrying out that function. He provides leadership in curricular, instructional, and faculty development matters and governs the budgeting, administering, evaluating, and planning of the academic aspects of university life. Abdelal also serves as vice chair of the president's cabinet and chair of the Faculty Senate.
He came to Northeastern from Georgia State University, where he served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and chair of the Biology Department. Abdelal also served as director of the Middle East Center for Peace, Culture and Development and provided the leadership for development of a number of other strategic international initiatives.
Abdelal earned his B.Sc. from Cairo University and his Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of California, Davis. Before he arrived at Georgia State University, he had held a faculty position in the Food Science Department of the Faculty of Agriculture at Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt, and a visiting faculty position in the Bacteriology Department at the University of California, Davis.
Old Dominion University
Dr. Carol Simpson
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Dr. Carol Simpson became Old Dominion University’s provost and vice president for academic affairs on January 7, 2008.
Prior to her appointment at Old Dominion, Simpson served as
vice president and provost at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Mass. since 2005, and served as associate provost for research and graduate education at Boston University from 1999 to 2005. She also has more than four years' experience as a program officer with the National Science Foundation, overseeing a $7 million budget.
As a faculty member, Simpson served as professor and chair of the earth sciences department at Boston University, associate professor at both Johns Hopkins University and Virginia Tech, and visiting assistant professor at Oklahoma State University and Brown University.
An expert in structural geology and tectonics, she has authored more than 50 refereed publications and more than 80 professional conference papers. Simpson's honors include a Best Paper Award from the Geological Society of America (GSA), selection as a member of the AURA U.S. National Solar Observatory oversight panel, and election as a fellow and councilor of the GSA.
She received a bachelor's degree in geology from the University of Wales, a master's in geology from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, and a doctorate in structural geology from ETH Zurich in Switzerland.
Towson University
Dr. James P. Clements
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Clements has been a faculty member at Towson University since 1989. He began as a visiting assistant professor, progressed to assistant professor and received early promotion to associate professor with tenure in 1995. From 1997 to 1999, he served as the Chairperson for the Department of Computer & Information Sciences. In the year 2000 he earned early promotion to full professor. In recognition of his accomplishments, in 2002 he was named the Robert W. Deutsch Distinguished Professor of Information Technology.
Clements' diverse accomplishments have been recognized within, and beyond, the university. Within the university he has chaired and/or served on various departmental, college, and university committees. He also created the Center for Applied Information Technology (CAIT) and served as the Executive Director. Beyond the University he has published and presented more than 50 papers on management, information systems, and technology. An exceptional professor, he was recipient of the Spirit of the University Award in 2003 and has been honored with several outstanding teacher awards given by students at the university. While serving as a faculty member, he also helped to secure several million dollars in grants from organizations including the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, and the State of Maryland. He has served as a consultant to numerous business and industry groups during the past 20 years and currently serves on several Boards in the Baltimore-Washington area.
He holds a M.S. and a Ph.D. in operations analysis from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, a M.S. in computer science from Johns Hopkins University, and a B.S. in computer science from the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
Virginia Commonwealth University
Dr. Stephen D. Gottfredson
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Stephen Gottfredson received the baccalaureate degree from the University of Oregon in 1971, and the master's and doctorate - in psychology - from The Johns Hopkins University. After completion of his studies in 1977, Dr. Gottfredson remained at Hopkins for several years as a member of the teaching and research faculty. In 1983, Gottfredson joined the faculty of Temple University, where he chaired the Department of Criminal Justice from 1987 until 1991, when he joined Indiana University's system-wide School of Public and Environmental Affairs as Professor. He later served the School as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
Gottfredson became Dean of Virginia Commonwealth University's College of Humanities and Sciences in 1997. Under his leadership, research funding quadrupled and new schools and programs of national import were created.
Gottfredson's academic appointments are as Professor of Government and Public Affairs, Affiliate Professor for the Ph.D. in Public Policy Program, and Affiliate Research Professor of Psychology. Noted for his expertise in the study of criminal behavior and of our social and policy responses to crime, Gottfredson is a regular consultant to national and international governmental agencies concerned with criminal justice policy.
The College of William and Mary
Dr. P. Geoffrey Feiss
Provost
Feiss became the fourth provost of the College of William and Mary in July 2003. Prior to that, he was Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Geology at the College of William and Mary. He holds the AB in Geology from Princeton University and the MA and Ph.D. in Geology from Harvard. From 1975 to 1997, he was on the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, also serving as chair of the Department of Geology and subsequently as Senior Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences. He taught at Albion College from 1970-1975.
His research interests are hydrothermal geochemistry and economic mineral resources. His most recent book, co-authored with John J.W. Rogers of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is People and the Earth: Geological Perspectives on Global Sustainability, Cambridge University Press, 1997.
A fellow of the Geological Society of America, he has served as chair of its Geology and Public Policy and Congressional Science Fellow Selection committees. He has been a member of the National Academy of Science/National Research Council Committee on Earth Resources. He currently serves on the American Geological Institute's Education and Environmental Committees and is a member of the board and Finance Committee of the Southern Universities Research Association (SURA). He is a past president of the Council of Colleges of Arts and Science and president-elect of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers
