Beverly Warren Appointed Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs

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Virginia Commonwealth University President Michael Rao today announced the appointment of Beverly Warren, Ed.D., Ph.D., to the position of provost and vice president for academic affairs.  

Warren’s appointment as VCU’s chief academic officer follows a national search and is effective April 20.

Warren has served as interim provost since April 2010.

“Dr. Warren has done an outstanding job of providing strong and visionary academic leadership at VCU in her interim role,” Rao said. “She is a well-respected, credible and effective academic and administrative colleague who also is a tireless advocate for students, faculty, staff and our community.

“We have an ambitious agenda at a challenging time and Dr. Warren is the right person at the right time for VCU.”

Rao said that he has worked with Warren on a myriad of complex, institutional matters, and that she has proved steadfast in her focus on academic quality and student success.

“I am very honored to have been selected as VCU’s provost and vice president for academic affairs,” Warren said. “This is an outstanding university community with a true spirit of collaboration. I look forward to working together with faculty, staff, students and the administration as we shape what I know will be a bright future for the university.”

Warren has held several senior leadership positions at VCU. She was appointed dean of the School of Education in January 2007, after serving as interim dean since July 2005 and associate dean for faculty affairs since 2003. Warren arrived at VCU in 2000 as a professor and the head of the School of Education's Division of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.  

Previously, Warren served as professor and chair at Lander University, Greenwood, S.C., and as associate professor and director of graduate programs at Appalachian State University, Boone, N.C. She also served on the faculty at Auburn University, Smith College in Northampton, Mass., and the University of Montevallo in Alabama.  

Warren's work in the areas of childhood obesity and the impact of physical activity on metabolic health earned her the title of Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine. Her current research interests focus on issues in urban education and she serves as an executive member of the national cradle to career educational partnership network.  

At VCU, Warren is co-chair of the president’s strategic planning task force and chair of the president’s cost-containment task force. She also has chaired the university Equity and Diversity Committee, leading the initial effort to develop a five-year diversity plan for VCU.

Warren holds a Ph.D. in exercise physiology from Auburn University and an Ed.D. in administration of higher education from the University of Alabama. She earned a master's degree from Southern Illinois University and a bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.