Photo of the exterior of the Tsotsis Family Academic Center with fountain.
Office

Office of the Provost

Office of the Provost

If we were living in the middle ages, no one would wonder at the title provost: the provost was the head of a religious community associated with a cathedral. Our work today is quite different.

The Provost is the chief academic officer of the University. The provost has responsibility for working in concert with the faculty, the deans, the academic departments, the President and the Board of Trustees to provide the best possible liberal education in the Catholic intellectual tradition for the University’s students. Review and revision of the curriculum, hiring of new faculty and academic planning for the University are some of the duties that fall within the Provost’s domain.

We welcome your interest in our shared work.  You will find us on the first floor of the Maison just to the right of the statue The Dying Gaul.  Please stop by and say hello.

Programs and Initiatives

Provost’s Fellows Program

Assumption University is blessed to have a wealth of talented and dedicated faculty who are united in their commitment to the development of academic excellence in our students and our University.   Creating opportunities for faculty to exercise their diverse gifts and abilities effectively on this front is crucial to the success of the University.  The Office of the Provost is therefore pleased to institute the AU Provost Fellows Program.  This program invites qualified, tenured faculty members to make meaningful contributions to the academic excellence of our University by working with the Provost’s Office on targeted, strategic initiatives. Faculty involved in the AU Provost Fellows Program gain experience on the senior administrative level as they work with University officers and departments to achieve the mission-oriented academic goals of Assumption University.

Provost Fellows Responsibilities 

Provost Fellows partner with senior administration on initiatives and projects that are vital to Assumption University’s academic and educational success.  As a Provost Fellow, a tenured faculty member will work on academic initiatives that encompass and span the educational life of the University, implement mission-critical strategic initiatives, learn about budget planning and management, and hone their personal leadership and collaborative skills.

Provost Fellows will receive appropriate release time (course reductions fitting the particular initiative they are working on) and administrative resources as they continue to carry out their primary faculty responsibilities as teachers and researchers. Fellows will meet with the senior administrator directing their project on a biweekly basis and take part in developmental programs specifically designed for Provost Fellows.  Depending on the assigned initiative, a Provost Fellow’s post may run for either a single semester or extend over a full academic year.

2024-2025 Provost’s Fellows

Foundations Provost Fellow

Providing all undergraduates with a rich and common experience of the breadth and depth of Catholic liberal education, the Foundations Program is—and will continue to be—the signature undergraduate, academic program at Assumption University.  Infusing the distinctive aims and ends of this program across the entire landscape of Assumption’s undergraduate programs lies at the heart of AU Thrive.  Reporting directly to the Provost and working closely with the Dean of the D’Amour College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, this Provost Fellow will help develop substantial, innovative initiatives that imbue the Foundations Program throughout the Universities various schools, bringing the program to life beyond its curricular requirements and unifying the essential educational aims that mark an Assumption education.  Duration: Full Academic Year.

Graduate Studies Provost Fellow

The significant and sustained expansion of Assumption’s graduate student enrollments is a crucial objective of AU Thrive.  Such strategic growth will require the careful identification, development, and implementation of a catalogue of new graduate programs that clearly align with the University’s educational mission.  The Graduate Studies Provost Fellow will be responsible for developing an innovative process for soliciting and evaluating ideas for new graduate-level programs and professional education opportunities within the Assumption community.  Reporting directly to the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies and working closely with the Chief Marketing Officer, this Provost Fellow will see this initiative from the idea stage through implementation.  Duration of fellowship: Full Academic Year.

Enrollment Management Provost Fellow 

Infusing Assumption’s distinctive educational mission throughout our students’ entire experience—from admission to graduation and beyond—is rightly the first goal of AU Thrive.  The successful achievement of this goal will necessarily require close collaboration between Academic Affairs and Enrollment Management.  Reporting directly to the Vice President of Enrollment and working in close conjunction with the Provost, this Provost Fellow will be responsible for: 1) identifying, developing, and communicating innovative ways for faculty to support and academically enrich enrollment efforts; 2) detecting and operationalizing key predictors of students’ academic success at Assumption; and 3) building opportunities that optimally and prominently showcase distinctive academic programs.  Duration of fellowship: Full Academic Year.

Nomination and Selection Process

Qualifications: Applicants must be tenured faculty members. Prior leadership experience is preferred but not required.

Nominations: A request for nominations for specific Provost Fellow posts is circulated to Deans and Vice Presidents. Deans and Vice Presidents can nominate faculty members by sending a brief description of their qualifications and curriculum vitae to the Office of the Provost. The Provost’s Office will solicit additional required information from the candidate.

Faculty members also can self-nominate for a particular Provost Fellow post. Self-nominations should include a two-page statement summarizing specific academic/administrative interests and professional goals, as well as a current curriculum vita. The Provost’s Office will solicit endorsement of the nomination from the nominee’s Dean.

Academic Year 2024-2025 Application Dates:

Application Process Opens: December 15, 2023

Application Deadline: February 1, 2024.

 

 

Disputed Questions Forum

Proudly sponsored by the Provost’s Office, The Disputed Questions Forum provides a venue for contested intellectual, moral, and spiritual questions to be discussed and debated in a way that honors the distinctive dignity of the human person. Animated by the belief that each person is created in the image of a God who is both logos and love, this forum is based on a simple premise: the highest compliment you can pay a being who is endowed with logos (reason) is to take his or her thoughts, ideas, and reasoned arguments seriously.

This Forum takes its name from an impressive academic exercise that characteristically marked the internal life of medieval Catholic universities.  Regularly, a magister (master) would stand up before the entire university, set forth a brief opening lecture on a controversial topic, and respond to objections and counter arguments proffered by other masters, bachelors, and students.

The Forum brings the entire Assumption community together to listen to—not just hear—diverse thinkers debate timely all-too-human questions and concerns.  Today, most universities reflexively blink when confronted with the opportunity to discuss hotly debated contemporary concerns in a respectful, civil, and serious way.  We are fortunate to be members of an ennobling educational community that can—and does—do this with intellectual courage, intellectual generosity, and intellectual humility.  

At Assumption, this is what genuine civil discourse looks like.  The Disputed Questions Forum furthers such truly humanizing conversations among the company of friends. View recent Disputed Questions Forum- Reflection & Judgement: Israel-Hamas War.

Conversations with Assumption Authors

Assumption University is proud to house distinguished scholars, writers, and researchers among its faculty.  The “Conversations with Assumption Authors” series shines a light on the impressive accomplishments of these faculty.  Occasioning the pursuit of truth in the company of friends, this series invites faculty, students, staff, alumni, and members of the surrounding community to come together in an informal setting to explore the words, thoughts, and ideas of our faculty authors.

Holding one session per semester, installments of this series feature a thoughtful, leisurely conversation between an Assumption faculty author and a colleague from another discipline on one of the author’s published books.  Each session is followed by a wine and cheese reception for those in attendance. View Dr. Steven Theroux’s A Most Improbable Story

Ecumenical Institute

Rabbi Joseph Klein Lecture

Office of the Provost

Marc D. Guerra, Ph.D
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Professor of Theology

Staff

Jacqueline Chlapowski

Academic Events Coordinator

508-767-7458
Carrie L. Ferguson

Administrative Assistant, Academic Support

Eloise R. Knowlton, Ph.D

Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs

508-767-7487
Lorrie McCarty

Executive Assistant to the Provost Manager, Instructional Academic Support Team Director, English Language Learning Summer Program

508-767-7312
Jennifer Morrison

Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs

508-767-7007
Stuart Munro

Director, Institutional Research & Academic Assessment

508-767-7041