If approved by the university’s Board of Trustees on April 13, Meera Komarraju will become the university’s Interim Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, according to a university press release.

“If approved by the Board of Trustees, I would be deeply honored to serve SIU Carbondale and advance it in partnership with our students, staff, faculty, campus administrators, alumni and community members” Komarraju said in the release.

Currently, Komarraju is the dean of the College of Liberal Arts.

Chancellor Carlo Montemagno said in the press release Komarraju will fill an important gap in university leadership. The provost’s duties have been divided among other provosts since the retirement of the previous interim provost, Susan Ford in June 2017.

“Dr. Komarraju is well qualified to move the revitalization of our academic programs forward,” Montemagno said in the release. “She is highly respected across campus as an administrator, teacher and researcher who has displayed a strong commitment to SIU throughout her career. She possesses the experience and skills needed to succeed as interim provost.”

Komarraju will be responsible for the academic colleges, library affairs, the graduate school, off-campus programs, the honors program, information technology and centers for international education and teaching excellence.

She came to the university in 1986 as a lecturer and has served as the director of the Department of Psychology’s undergraduate program, chair of the department, and associate dean for student and curricular affairs in COLA.

Komarraju was appointed as the dean of the College of Liberal Arts in 2015, according to the release.

She is widely published in the field of Psychology, a fellow of the American Psychological Association and a past recipient of university’s Outstanding Teacher of the Year award the press release said.

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