Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs

Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs

Regis College Campus - Weston, MA

Leadership Profile: Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs

This leadership profile is intended to provide information about Regis College and the position of Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs. It is designed to assist qualified individuals in assessing their interest in this position.

Opportunity and Position Summary

The Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs (Provost) will be an energetic and innovative leader who will provide vision for all aspects of academic life at the university. The Provost will ensure both the high quality of academic programs and their alignment with student demand and workforce need; strengthen teaching and research; and support the success of diverse students in their academic work and post-graduation planning.

The Provost will play a significant role on the university's leadership team in achieving the institution's strategic goals, including expanding Regis' standing, locally and nationally, as a leader in the education of health professionals, building on the university's reputation in nursing to encompass its broader scope of health professions programs, grounded in Regis' mission and in the durable capacities of the liberal arts, which underpin every major.

The new Provost must be a seasoned, strategic leader with demonstrated accomplishments; the ability to embody and promote the university's mission; and a clear sense of the complex challenges of an institution serving traditional and non-traditional undergraduate and graduate students in professional and in liberal arts schools, with both campus based and online offerings. This is a role that depends on partnership. The Provost will work closely with colleagues across every division enrollment management, advancement, finance, student affairs, ministry and service, and marketing and communications and success will come through building shared purpose rather than directing from the academic side alone. Extraordinary communication skills are essential, as is the ability to foster a culture that is both collaborative and innovative.

The successful candidate will be both empathetic and accountable. Regis is a community that knows its people by name and takes seriously the CSJ commitment to excellence tempered by gentleness. It is also an institution that must make disciplined decisions about programs, resources, and structures. The next Provost will need to do both: to lead change with genuine care for the people affected by it, and to hold themselves and others to clear expectations and measurable results.

The ideal candidate will bring experience in online education, a demonstrated record of improving outcomes for students with diverse needs and experiences, and success in developing partnerships that benefit both Regis and its partners. In addition to experience comparable to that of a provost, vice president, or dean, the Provost will have an earned doctorate or terminal professional degree and a record of scholarly achievement that would merit a faculty appointment in one of the university's schools.

As chief academic officer, the Provost leads the deans of the School of Arts, Sciences and Education, the School of Health Sciences, the School of Business and Communication, and the Richard and Sheila Young School of Nursing, and holds responsibility for all academic programs, the Library, the Registrar, academic advising, the Office of Strategic Partnerships, and the Office of Career and Professional Development.

Regis College was founded in 1927 by the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston (CSJ). The Sisters founded Regis College at a time when higher education options for women were limited. The mission of providing access to an education based on CSJ values and striving for excellence tempered with gentleness endures today on a co-educational campus that prides itself on welcoming all without distinction. The campus is located in Weston, Massachusetts, in the greater Boston area.

Inquiries, nominations and applications are invited. Interested individuals should provide a letter describing their interest in and qualification for the position, a curriculum vitae and the names and contact information of five references. This search will be conducted maintaining full confidentiality of all candidates; references will not be contacted without the prior knowledge and approval of the candidate.

The Role of the Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs

The essential duties and responsibilities for the Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs are as follows:

• Lead and supervise the deans and academic leadership team, setting clear expectations, developing talent, and holding the academic enterprise accountable for results. The academic leadership team includes: Assistant Provost, Deans, Registrar, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Director of Career and Professional Development, Carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with Regis College's policies and applicable laws.
• In partnership with Enrollment Management, Finance, and Marketing and Communications, lead systematic academic portfolio optimization evaluating programs against student demand, workforce need, academic quality, and financial contribution, and acting on what the evidence shows.
• Develop and expand the academic portfolio beyond the university's current reputation, building strength across various helping professions while sustaining excellence in nursing and ensuring that liberal arts formation remains foundational across every program, and that its value is visible to students, families, and employers.
• Build and steward strategic partnerships with employers, health systems, community colleges, and community organizations that expand learning, career, and enrollment opportunities.
• Advance teaching and learning practices suited to today's students and technologies using artificial intelligence where it genuinely deepens learning, setting it aside where it does not, and protecting the relationship between teacher and student that no technology can replace.
• Ensure that artificial intelligence is treated as curriculum and not only as pedagogy, so that Regis graduates enter their professions able to use these tools capably, critically, and ethically if required.
• Oversee the integration of academic advising and career development to strengthen retention, persistence, and post-graduation outcomes.
• Serve as senior staff liaison to the Board Committee on Academic Affairs and supports the work of the Board.
• Recommend to the President all faculty to appointed to rank, promotion, tenure, sabbatical leave, salary, and compensation. Perform other related duties as required.

Opportunities and Expectations for Leadership

Advance the Strategic Plan

The university is in the development phase of Regis's 2026-2030 strategic plan. The planning framework consists of five strategic pillars and sixteen supporting goals. The initiative proposal process is currently underway. A link to a graphic representation of the plan is available here. The provost will work closely with the president's cabinet, steering committee, deans, faculty, and staff to lead initiatives in several key areas, including retention, new enrollment, campus vibrancy, and operational excellence.

Set and Execute Academic Portfolio Strategy

Regis offers a distinctive range of programs and a complete academic ladder, from associate through doctoral study, delivered on campus and online. The Provost will bring strategic and data-informed discipline to that portfolio: evaluating programs against demonstrated demand, workforce need, quality, and financial contribution; investing in what is working and has room to grow; consolidating or sunsetting what no longer serves students or the university; and identifying the adjacent opportunities that Regis is uniquely positioned to pursue.

The university intends to expand what it is known for. Regis holds a national reputation in nursing and has real but less visible strength across health sciences, public health, and health-adjacent programs in social work, counseling, and education. The Provost will build that visibility through new and reshaped programs, through strategic partnerships that connect students to employers, and through robust student outcomes.

The Provost will also ensure that the liberal arts remain the foundation of a Regis education rather than a competing interest. Every professional program at Regis rests on the formation the liberal arts provide, and the Provost will be expected to make that case persuasively to faculty, prospective families, and employers.

Lead and Develop the Faculty

The Provost will recognize the need for a solid infrastructure to support a growing number of adjunct faculty working across the country in support of the online initiatives. A focus on faculty diversity, celebration of faculty accomplishments as well as support of professional development will be key to that success.

The Provost will work with the deans and faculty to build a culture that is both supportive and accountable clarifying policy and practice, establishing consistent and equitable standards for workload, compensation, stipends, and course release across schools, and investing in professional development that helps faculty teach well in a rapidly changing environment. The Provost will also bring faculty closer to what happens after graduation, so that career outcomes become a shared concern of the curriculum rather than a service students seek out on their own.

Central to this work is the vitality of the residential campus. Regis students choose a small university because of what happens between classes the office-hours conversation, the faculty member who notices a student is struggling, the mentorship that turns into a recommendation letter or a career. That kind of formation depends on presence. The Provost will lead a renewed commitment to an active, visible faculty presence on campus for students enrolled in campus-based programs, working with the deans to ensure that faculty availability, advising, and engagement in the life of the university are consistent expectations rather than individual choices. The Provost should be someone who believes in the value of a residential academic community, can articulate that value persuasively, and is prepared to build the shared expectations that sustain it.