Winthrop University, a top ranked public, comprehensive, masters-level university, seeks a dynamic, innovative, and collaborative leader to serve as Provost. As the chief academic officer, the Provost guides the academic direction of Winthrop and fosters a cohesive leadership team across all academic and administrative support units that reflects the university’s commitment to academic excellence, teaching, and research. The Provost reports directly to the President and serves on the President’s Cabinet. The preferred start date for the next Provost is January 1, 2024.
Below are the four finalists for the Provost position. Read more about them, along with their scheduled times to be on campus for public presentations, meet and greet sessions, and conversations with faculty, staff, administrators and students.
Sebastian van Delden
Sebastian van Delden
Sebastian van Delden earned a Ph.D. in computer science with a dissertation focused on artificial intelligence from the University of Central Florida.
His first job out of college was as an assistant professor at USC Upstate where he was promoted to associate professor, became director of research for the campus, and won all three faculty awards in teaching, in research, and in service.
He served as department head of computer science and industrial technology at Southeastern Louisiana University for three years.
He currently serves as the dean of the School of Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering at the College of Charleston. In this role, he established the university’s first engineering programs and first doctoral program, set a historic record in philanthropic giving, set a record high enrollment in STEM majors, introduced a peer mentoring center, and won Charleston County’s Economic Ambassador of the Year award for his industry engagement efforts.
Born and raised on a small island in the Caribbean called Saba, van Delden and his wife, Elizabeth, have two daughters, Ava and Bels.
Laura Reynolds
Laura Reynolds
Laura Reynolds serves as the provost and vice president of academic affairs at Missouri Western State University. She is chief academic officer for the Division of Academic Affairs and provides oversight for budgeting, management, and strategic planning for three academic colleges, the Office of the Registrar, the Office of Applied Learning, Student Success and Academic Advising, Academic Program Review, the Office of Assessment and Accreditation, and Institutional Research, as well as the University’s Early College Academy and dual credit programming and Office of Sponsored Research.
Prior to her role as provost, she served as dean of the College of Education, Human Performance, and Health at the USC Upstate, and as associate dean of the College of Education, Health, and Human Services at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and as UM-Dearborn’s chief assessment officer in the Office of the Provost and Academic Affairs.
Reynolds is a site visitor for SACSCOC and the Higher Learning Commission, as well as the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation.
Reynolds earned her doctorate in educational psychology from the University of South Carolina, her master’s in American history from Midwestern State University-Texas, and her bachelor’s in multidisciplinary social sciences from Michigan State University.
Eric Brown
Eric Brown
Eric Brown is professor of English and former provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of Maine Farmington. He has been at UMF since 2003, after holding previous positions at Salem State University, Harvard University, and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
He was named both a Trustee Professor and a Campus Residence Council Outstanding Faculty Member, and also served as a visiting professor at the Université du Maine (Le Mans) and at the University of Bergen, Norway, as a Fulbright scholar.
He is president of the Maine Chapter of the Fulbright Association.
In 2013 he served as honors director for a three-year term, overseeing a program that doubled in enrollment and substantially increased outreach to UMF alumni, donors, and the local community.
From 2016-22 he served as provost and interim president at UMF, during which time he secured the largest private donation in UMF’s history, and expanded the institution’s undergraduate, graduate, early college, and online education curriculum.
Brown received his Ph.D. in Renaissance literature from Louisiana State University and two bachelor’s degrees, in English and zoology, from the University of Maine. He completed a certificate in management and leadership in education from the Graduate School of Education at Harvard.
Mark Biermann
Mark Biermann
Mark Biermann earned his Ph.D. from the University of Rochester with emphasis on the computational and theoretical study of quantum optics and the application of quantum optics to nano-devices and structures.
Biermann has spent his professional career in higher education, holding a range of positions at a number of different colleges and universities. He has been an assistant or associate professor of physics at Whitworth College, Buena Vista University, Houghton College, and the United States Naval Academy.
Biermann served as chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Eastern Kentucky University. He served as the inaugural dean of the School of Natural and Applied Sciences at Taylor University. He then served as the dean of the faculty and vice president for academic affairs at Wartburg College.
He then assumed the role of provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Valparaiso University. As provost, he was responsible for all academic programs, including seven colleges and schools. He oversaw a budget of over $50 million and up to 675 employees.
From August 2020 until January 2023 he served as president of Blackburn College.
Biermann was born in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.