Office of the President

Announcing Brandeis' New Provost

November 30, 2020

Dear Brandeis Community,

Over the past nine months, Brandeis has carried out an extensive national search to identify its next Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs to succeed Lisa M. Lynch.

Today, I am pleased to announce that Professor Carol Fierke, a Brandeis alumna who received a PhD from our biochemistry department in 1984, will be our next Provost. Dr. Fierke has served as Provost and Executive Vice President at Texas A&M University since 2017. Prior to this role, she spent much of her career at the University of Michigan, where she served in several leadership roles, including Chair of the chemistry department and Vice Provost and Dean of the Rackham Graduate School. She will return to Brandeis to begin her tenure as our Provost on January 1, 2021.

Dr. Fierke will bring to Brandeis a history of success in managing the operations of complex research institutions. An internationally recognized biochemist, her academic career in both research and mentorship has embodied the type of connectivity and excellence that makes Brandeis distinctive. And as a consensus builder with a demonstrated commitment to making institutions more diverse, equitable, and inclusive, Dr. Fierke is already a champion of the values that have defined the Brandeis community since 1948.   

Dr. Fierke rose to the top of a very strong pool of applicants that was developed and reviewed by the Provost Search Committee. Starting its work in March 2020, the committee was led by Susan Birren, the Zalman Abraham Kekst Chair in Neuroscience, and included the following members:

  • Eva Bellin, the Myra and Robert Kraft Professor of Arab Politics in the Department of Politics and the Crown Center for Middle East Studies
  • Carole Carlson, Senior Lecturer and MBA Program Director in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management
  • Peter R. Kalb, the Cynthia L. and Theodore S. Berenson Associate Professor of Contemporary Art
  • Isaac Krauss, Professor of chemistry
  • Maria Madison, Associate Dean for Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management
  • Raymond Lu-Ming Ou, Vice President of Student Affairs
  • Carol Saivetz, Trustee; Senior Adviser, MIT Security Studies Program
  • Gary Samore, Crown Family Director, Professor of the Practice of Politics, Crown Center for Middle East Studies
  • Harleen Singh, Associate Professor of literature and women’s, gender and sexuality studies
  • Stewart Uretsky, Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration
  • Grace Zimmerman, Professor of the Practice of marketing in the Brandeis International Business School
  • William R. O’Reilly, Jr., Chief of Staff and Senior Adviser to the President

I am deeply grateful for the committee’s hard work over these past nine months, an extraordinary time in which to conduct a search of this magnitude. Beyond the work of the committee, input from faculty, staff, and students has been essential to the success of this search process.

On BrandeisNOW you can read our formal announcement about Dr. Fierke’s appointment. In the coming weeks, there will be opportunities for her to virtually meet with members of our community. We will also take the time to celebrate Lisa Lynch’s extraordinary leadership and contributions to Brandeis over the past 12 years before she leaves for her well-earned sabbatical.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Fierke.

Sincerely,

Ron