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{{short description|Senior academic administrator}}{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}}{{Use British English|date=September 2023}}A provost is a senior academic administrator. At many institutions of higher education, the provost is the chief academic officer, a role that may be combined with being deputy to the chief executive officer. They may also be the chief executive officer of a university, of a branch campus of a university, or of a college within a university.

Chief academic officer

{{More citations needed|section|date=December 2022}}The specific duties and areas of responsibility for a provost as chief academic officer vary from one institution to another, but usually include supervision and oversight of curricular, instructional, and research affairs.A section of Harvard’s 1997 Re-accreditation Report for the New England Commission of Colleges and Schools described the provost:The Provost at Harvard acts as an extension of the President. He is the second academic officer, after the President, having purview of the entire University. The Provost has special responsibility for fostering intellectual interactions across the University, including the five Interfaculty Initiatives (environment, ethics and the professions, schooling and children, mind/brain/behavior, and health policy). The Provost also acts to help improve the quality and efficiency of central services organized at Harvard under the aegis of the Vice Presidents.Imperial College London, the first university in the UK to adopt a dual leadership model with a president and a provost, describes the role of the provost:WEB,www.imperial.ac.uk/finance/annual-report/archive/2017-18/imperial-in-2017-18/the-dual-leadership-model, The dual leadership model, Imperial College London: Annual Reports and Accounts, 2018, 27 December 2022, The Provost is the chief academic officer. Like the President, the Provost is a distinguished academic who upholds Imperial’s very high standards for the core academic mission. He has direct responsibility for the major academic units (via the Faculty Deans) and the teaching and research mission via the Vice-Provosts (Education and Research and Innovation). The Provost also has responsibility for human – as well as intellectual – resources, with responsibility for promoting an inclusive and excellent staff and student community.The various deans of a university’s schools, colleges, or faculties typically report to the provost, or jointly to them and the institution’s chief executive officer—which office may be called president, chancellor, vice-chancellor or rector. Likewise do the heads of the various interdisciplinary units and academic support functions (such as libraries, student services, the registrar, admissions, and information technology) usually report there. The provost, in turn, is responsible to the institution’s chief executive officer and governing board or boards (variously called its trustees, the regents, the governors, or the corporation) for oversight of all educational affairs and activities, including research and academic personnel.In many but not all North American institutions, the provost or equivalent is the second-ranking officer in the administrative hierarchy. Often the provost may serve as acting chief executive officer during a vacancy in that office or when the incumbent is absent from campus for prolonged periods. In these institutions, the title of provost is sometimes combined with those of senior vice president, executive vice president, executive vice chancellor, or the like, to denote that officer’s high standing. {{Citation needed|date=May 2018}}Provosts often receive staff support or delegate line responsibility for certain administrative functions to one or more subordinates variously called pro-provost,WEB,www.queens.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/STATUTES.pdf, Statutes, The Queen’s College, Oxford, 8–9, assistant provost, associate provost, vice provost, or deputy provost. The deputy provost is often the right-hand person of the provost who assumes the provost’s responsibilities in the provost’s absence.Provosts are often chosen by a search committee made up of faculty members, and are almost always drawn from the ‘tenured faculty’ or ‘professional administrators’ with academic credentials, either at the institution or from other institutions.

Titles and other uses

At some North American research universities and liberal arts colleges, other titles may be used in place of or in combination with provost, such as chief academic officer or vice president for academic affairs (or, rarely, academic vice-president, academic vice rector, or vice president for education). At smaller independent liberal arts colleges, the chief academic officer may carry the title “dean of the college” or “dean of the faculty” in addition to or instead of provost. For example, at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, the dean of the faculty is also the vice president for academic affairs and is the second-highest administrator, directly beneath the president.In some universities, the chief administrative officer of a large academic division may be a provost. Finally, in some colleges and universities, the title of provost (and the function of deputy to the president or chancellor) may be separate from the function of chief academic officer.Universities using provost in the title of their chief executive officer include University College LondonWEB,www.ucl.ac.uk/provost/ucls-president-provost, UCL’s President & Provost, University College London, 21 November 2017, 25 December 2022, and Trinity College, Dublin.WEB,www.tcd.ie/provost/, Provost and President, Trinity College Dublin, 25 December 2022, The title is also used for the heads of Oriel,WEB,www.oriel.ox.ac.uk/people/lord-mendoza/, Lord Mendoza, Oriel College, 25 December 2022, Queen’sWEB,www.queens.ox.ac.uk/people/dr-claire-craig/, Queen’s College, Dr Claire Craig, 25 December 2022, and WorcesterWEB,www.worc.ox.ac.uk/about/fellows/provost-david-isaac-cbe, Provost: David Isaac, CBE, Worcester Colleges, 25 December 2022, colleges in the University of Oxford; King’s College, Cambridge;WEB,www.kings.cam.ac.uk/news/2022/election-new-provost, Election of a new Provost, King’s College, 25 December 2022, St Leonard’s College, St Andrews;WEB,www.st-andrews.ac.uk/about/professional-services/st-leonards/, St Leonard’s Postgraduate College, St Andrews University, 25 December 2022, all residential colleges of the University of California, San Diego;WEB,catalog.ucsd.edu/undergraduate/colleges/index.html, Undergraduate Colleges, UC San Diego, 1 January 2023, and all residential colleges of the University of California, Santa Cruz.WEB,ue.ucsc.edu/colleges/index.html, Undergraduate Education College Directory, UC Santa Cruz, 1 January 2023, The Provost of Eton is the chair of the governors of Eton College.Many universities also use provost as the title for the chief executive officers of their international branch campuses.WEB,www.nottingham.edu.my/AboutUs/Index.aspx, From the Interim Provost and CEO, 24 December 2022, University of Nottingham Malaysia, WEB,www.nottingham.ac.uk/about/structure/university-executive-board/provicechancellorprovostunnc.aspx, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Provost, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, 24 December 2022, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, WEB,www.ncl.ac.uk/numed/about-us/governance/, Governance, Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia, 24 December 2022, WEB,www.hw.ac.uk/malaysia/profiles/services/mushtak-talib-ali-al-atabi.htm, Prof. Mushtak Al-Atabi, Heriot-Watt University Malaysia, 24 December 2022, WEB,www.birmingham.ac.uk/dubai/about/provosts-welcome.aspx, A welcome from our Provost, University of Birmingham Dubai, 24 December 2022, WEB,www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/news/2021/december/dmu-officially-launches-first-international-campus-in-dubai.aspx, DMU officially launches first international campus in Dubai, 10 December 2021, 25 December 2022, De Montfort University Leicester, WEB,www.reading.ac.uk/news-archive/press-releases/pr470691.html, University of Reading Malaysia appoints provost, 23 October 2012, University of Reading, 25 December 2022, WEB,study.lancaster.edu.gh/news/provosts-message-to-students/, Provost’s Message to Students, Lancaster University Ghana, 18 October 2022, 25 December 2022, Some of these universities also use provost (often in combination as “provost and deputy vice-chancellor” or similar) for their chief academic officer.WEB,www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2016/new-provost-appointed-at-the-university-of-birmingham, University of Birmingham, New Provost appointed at the University of Birmingham, 29 June 2016, 25 December 2022, WEB,www.nottingham.ac.uk/about/structure/university-executive-board/provostanddeputyvicechancellor.aspx, Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Nottingham, 25 December 2022, Glasgow Caledonian New York College shows a mixture of this with the US system: the president of the college is the Glasgow-based Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University, leaving the New York-based Vice President and Provost as the senior official at the campus.WEB,gcnyc.edu/about/administration-and-staff/, Administration, Leadership & Governance, Glasgow Caledonian New York College, 26 December 2022,

History

The title “provost” (Latin: praepositus) has been used in England from medieval times for the head of colleges such as Oriel College, OxfordWEB,www.oriel.ox.ac.uk/our-history/historical-figures-and-alumni/, Oriel’s historical figures and alumni, Oriel College, 24 December 2022, and Eton College.WEB,www.etoncollege.com/about-us/our-history/, Our history, Eton College, 24 December 2022, More recent colleges have adopted the same usage, e.g. the principal of University College London was retitled as provost in 1906,BOOK, The World of UCL, 139, UCL Press, Negley Harte, John North, Georgina Brewis, 9781787352933, 21 May 2018, and Durham University adopted the title for University College Stockton in 1999 (until it was split into two new colleges in 2001).WEB,reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?docId=ark/32150_s1tx31qh77k.xml#qxj-396, Vice-Chancellor and Warden, Durham University Library Archives & Special Collections Catalogue, Durham University Records: Central Administration and Officers, 25 December 2022, WEB,oxcheps.new.ox.ac.uk/papers/OxCHEPS_OP3.pdf, Breaking the mould: The surprising story of Stockton, John Hayward, 82, 23 December 2022, Following its usage for the heads of colleges, some multi-campus state university systems in the United States have used provost as the title of the head of a branch campus. For example, the chancellors of the Newark and Camden campuses of Rutgers University in New Jersey were formerly known as provosts.WEB, 2013-10-31, Announcing Campus Leadership Appointments,www.rutgers.edu/news/announcing-campus-leadership-appointments, 2024-03-28, Rutgers, en, A similar practice arose in Britain in the early 21st century with the establishment of international branch campuses, many of which were headed by provosts.The establishment of provosts as the chief academic officers of universities in the US began in the first half of the 20th century. The first use of the title in American higher education was in 1754 at the University (then the college) of Pennsylvania. The post was created under Benjamin Franklin as president of the board of trustees, and while Franklin was in this position he remained heavily involved in the college. However, on Franklin’s retirement in 1755 the provost took up the more usual (at the time) role of head of the college, which it retained until the re-establishment of the presidency of the university in 1930.WEB,provost.upenn.edu/history-penn-provosts, Establishment, History of Penn Provosts, 25 December 2022, At Columbia University, the board of trustees established the office of provost in 1811 as a political compromise; it was abolished five years later when the holder departed. The Trustees and the president of the university re-established the office of provost in 1912 as the chief academic officer, who “would be associated with the President and the Secretary of the university in the consideration and oversight of matters of general university concern and in the preparation of general university business for consideration either by the Trustees, the University Council, or the appropriate Faculty.” It fell vacant again between 1926 and 1937, but on its restoration was seen as the second officer in the administration, behind only the president.WEB,findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-ua/ldpd_5691172, Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs records, Historical Note, Columbia University Libraries Archival Collections, 26 December 2022, Other American universities and colleges created provosts as heads of academic affairs during and after World War II, when dramatic increases in undergraduate enrollments (due to the G.I. Bill) and the increased complexity of higher education administration led many chief executive officers to adopt a more corporate governing structure. By the 1960s, many private research universities had provosts installed as their chief academic officers, including Brown (1949),BOOK,www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/Databases/Encyclopedia/search.php?serial=P0440, Encyclopedia Brunoniana: Provost, Brown University, Providence, RI, Martha Mitchell, 1 June 2015, 26 December 2022, Chicago (1963),WEB,provost.uchicago.edu/history, History, University of Chicago Office of the Provost, 26 December 2022, Cornell (1931),WEB,provost.cornell.edu/about/history-of-cornells-provosts/, History of Cornell’s Provosts, Cornell University Office of the Provost, 26 December 2022, Dartmouth (1955; in abeyance 1972–79),WEB,provost.dartmouth.edu/about/who-we-are/past-provosts, Past Provosts, Dartmouth College Office of the Provost, 11 August 2021, 26 December 2022, Duke (1960),WEB,archives.lib.duke.edu/catalog/uartc, Robert Taylor Cole papers, 1933-1991, Duke University Library: Archives and Manuscripts, 26 December 2022, live,web.archive.org/web/20221227052221/https://archives.lib.duke.edu/catalog/uartc, Dec 27, 2022, Johns Hopkins (1924),WEB,provost.jhu.edu/about/history/former-provosts/, Former Provosts, Johns Hopkins University Office of the Provost, 26 December 2022, MIT (1949),WEB,libraries.mit.edu/mithistory/institute/offices/office-of-the-mit-provost/, Provosts of MIT, MIT Libraries: MIT History, 26 December 2022, Princeton (1966),WEB,princetoniana.princeton.edu/people/administration/provosts, Provosts, Princetonia, 26 December 2022, Rice (1954),WEB,digitalprojects.rice.edu/wrc/presidents-provosts/exhibits/show/presidents-provosts/provosts, Provosts, Presidents and Provosts, 26 December 2022, Stanford (1952),WEB,provost.stanford.edu/past-provosts/, Past Provosts, Stanford: Office of the Provost, 26 December 2022, Tufts (1951),WEB,provost.tufts.edu/about/about-the-office/history-of-the-office/, History of the Office, Tufts: Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President, 26 December 2022, Wake Forest (1967)WEB,provost.wfu.edu/about/past-provosts/, Past Provosts, Wake Forest University: Office of the Provost, 26 December 2022, and Yale (1919).WEB,guides.library.yale.edu/c.php?g=296064&p=1973564, Yale Officers: Provosts, Yale Library, 26 December 2022, Harvard was a notable holdout: a provost had been appointed in 1933, but only with authority over the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and the position had been eliminated in 1953. It was not until 1995 that Harvard appointed a university-wide provost.Freeland, Richard M. (1992). Academia’s Golden Age: Universities in Massachusetts, 1945–1970. New York: Oxford University Press.Keller, Morton & Keller, Phyllis (2001). Making Harvard Modern: The Rise of America’s University. New York: Oxford University Press.The use of provost as the title of the chief academic officer of a university (as opposed to its historic use for the head of a college) is relatively recent in the UK. One of the earliest was Imperial College London, where the first provost was appointed in 2012, splitting off the chief academic officer role previously carried out by the rector (chief executive) of the university after a governance review.WEB,www.imperial.ac.uk/news/117429/james-stirling-imperials-first-provost/, James Stirling to be Imperial’s first Provost, John-Paul Jones, 12 December 2012, Imperial College London, 23 December 2022, The vice-chancellor (chief executive) of Durham University praised this arrangement in 2014, following a governance review that recommended it at that university, saying “The Vice-Chancellor’s role in an international university like this now is something that cannot be done by one person with all the external and internal stuff you have to do. In America it’s been the case all the time that they’ve had a president and a provost, with the president being the equivalent of Vice-Chancellor. This more or less splits the external and internal duties. Personally I believe that we should move to this model – Imperial [College] has done it, I believe the LSE [London School of Economics] is moving in that direction and a few others are as well. I think it’s certainly what we must do to maintain our status as an international university.“NEWS,www.palatinate.org.uk/exclusive-interview-with-vice-chancellor-chris-higgins/, Exclusive interview with Vice-Chancellor Chris Higgins, 20 June 2014, James Poole, Palatinate (newspaper), Palatinate, Durham expanded the post of deputy vice-chancellor (created 2011) to be the deputy vice-chancellor and provost when it next became vacant in 2016.WEB,reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?docId=ark/32150_s1tx31qh77k.xml#zfg-887, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Durham University Library Archives & Special Collections Catalogue, Durham University Records: Central Administration and Officers, 25 December 2022, WEB,www.dur.ac.uk/news/newsitem/?itemno=29142, Durham appoints Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost, 10 October 2016, Durham University, 23 December 2022, {{as of|December 2022|post=,}} most members of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities in the UK had appointed a senior officer with academic responsibility separate from their chief executive. Some of these used the title provost on its own,WEB,warwick.ac.uk/services/vco/execteam/provost/, Provost, Warwick University Executive Office, 27 December 2022, WEB,www.exeter.ac.uk/about/governance/managed/executive/provost/, Provost, University of Exeter: University Governance, 27 December 2022, WEB,www.ed.ac.uk/news/staff/2021/new-provost-appointed, New Provost appointed, University of Edinburgh: Staff News, 21 December 2021, 27 December 2022, others used provost in combination with another title indicating that they were deputy to the chief executive officer),WEB,www.sheffield.ac.uk/ueb/team-profiles/professor-gill-valentine, Professor Gill Valentine, University of Sheffield: University Executive Board, 26 November 2019, 27 December 2022, WEB,www.york.ac.uk/about/organisation/management/meeting-the-board/saul-tendler, Professor Saul Tendler: Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost, University of York, 27 December 2022, WEB,www.bristol.ac.uk/university/governance/executive/deputy-vice-chancellor-and-provost/, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost, University of Bristol: About the University, 27 December 2022, while both King’s College London and Southampton eschewed the title provost in favour of Senior Vice-President (Academic)WEB,www.kcl.ac.uk/news/professor-rachel-mills-appointed-senior-vice-president-academic-at-kings, Professor Rachel Mills appointed Senior Vice President (Academic) at King’s, News Centre, King’s College London, 9 May 2022, 27 December 2022, WEB,www.southampton.ac.uk/about/our-people/executive-group.page#Phillip%20Wright, Senior Vice-President (Academic) – Professor Phillip Wright, The University Executive, University of Southampton, 27 December 2022, and Glasgow used Senior Vice Principal and Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic).WEB,www.gla.ac.uk/explore/whoswho/#viceprincipals%26deputyvicechancellors, Who’s Who, University of Glasgow, 27 December 2022, The London School of Economics appointed a provost and deputy director in 2013 but, after the holder left in 2015, no longer have the position in their management structure.WEB,info.lse.ac.uk/staff/divisions/directorate/SMC/SMC-Contacts, SMC Contacts, LSE, 27 December 2022, live,web.archive.org/web/20221227065130/https://info.lse.ac.uk/staff/divisions/directorate/SMC/SMC-Contacts, 27 December 2022, NEWS,www.timeshighereducation.com/news/lse-adopts-us-style-titles-for-lecturers/2009111.article, LSE adopts US-style titles for lecturers, 21 November 2013, Jack Grove, Times Higher Education, subscription, live,web.archive.org/web/20240119022946/https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/lse-adopts-us-style-titles-for-lecturers/2009111.article, Jan 19, 2024, However, only a few of the Russell Group universities with provosts (including Imperial, Durham, Edinburgh and Bristol) explicitly identified the provost as being the chief academic officer, and ExeterWEB,www.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/financeservices/pdfs/annualreport2020-2021.pdf, Annual Report 2020/21 and Financial Statements to 31 July 2021, 81, University of Exeter, 27 December 2022, dead,web.archive.org/web/20221227230611/https://www.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/financeservices/pdfs/annualreport2020-2021.pdf, 27 December 2022, and SheffieldWEB,www.sheffield.ac.uk/media/38080/download?attachment, 42, Annual Report & Financial Statements 2021–22, University of Sheffield, 27 December 2022, live,web.archive.org/web/20221227234003/https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/media/38080/download?attachment, 27 December 2022, continued to explicitly identify the chief executive officer as the chief academic officer.

See also

• List of academic ranks
• Dean (education)
• Principal (university)
• Professor
• Postgraduate education
• Undergraduate education

References

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• “History of Cornell’s Provosts”, “Meet the Provost”, Cornell University Office of the Provost.
• www.trincoll.edu/Academics/DeanOfFaculty/Dean.htm" title="web.archive.org/web/20100704112601www.trincoll.edu/Academics/DeanOfFaculty/Dean.htm">“Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs”, Trinity College (Connecticut)