 Kevin Kearns |
SUNY Fredonia has announced the appointment of Kevin Kearns as the Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs for the 2012-2013 academic year, effective July 1. Dr. Kearns currently serves as Associate Vice President for Graduate Studies and Research, a position he has held since joining the campus in 2007. He also holds the rank of Professor in Fredonia’s Department of Communication Disorders and Sciences.
The appointment comes following a campus-wide nomination process, followed by interviews with several individuals. The college will engage in a national search for this position during the coming academic year, with the goal of appointing the new Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs to begin July 1, 2013.
Dr. Kearns brings significant experience to this new role. Currently, he oversees admissions and standards for graduate programs, the Technology Incubator, the Office of Sponsored Programs, the Office of Institutional Research, Planning and Assessment, the Office of Student Creativity and Research (OSCAR), and the FACE (Fredonia Academic Community Engagement) Center. Some of these responsibilities will continue to be under his direction as Interim Provost, while others will be shifted during this temporary appointment.
“Each of the people interviewed could do this job well, so my decision was based more on what would be best for the campus in transition as we move forward on our new initiatives,” said Dr. Virginia Horvath, the current Vice President for Academic Affairs whose selection last month as SUNY Fredonia’s next president prompted this change. “Our university has important work at the departmental, school and college levels next year, as we implement a new strategic plan and baccalaureate goals, in addition to the general education redesign, new construction, and other possible directions that inevitably occur with changes like we are experiencing. I am grateful to Dr. Kearns for his willingness to serve in this role and look forward to working with him.”
Before coming to Fredonia, Kearns was the interim Academic Dean and a professor and Director of the Graduate Program in Communication Sciences and Disorders at the MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston. He also previously served as a faculty affiliate in the Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology doctoral program in the Harvard-MIT division of Health Sciences and Technology. Earlier appointments include faculty and administrative positions at the Children's Hospital of Boston Center for Communication Disorders/Otolaryngology, Northeastern University (Boston), and the Veterans Administration Medical Center (North Chicago).
Kearns earned his Ph.D. in Communication Disorders from the University of Kansas, his M.A. in Communication Disorders from St. Louis University, and his B.A. in Speech-Language Pathology from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
