Penn State announces interim executive vice president and provost ahead of national search
An interim executive vice president and provost of Penn State has been named, the university announced Tuesday.
Tracy Langkilde, the Verne M. Willaman Dean of the Eberly College of Science, on Monday officially became Penn State’s interim executive vice president and provost. She succeeded Justin Schwartz, who is leaving the position and will be the next University of Colorado Boulder chancellor. He will depart this summer, according to Penn State, and a national search for a permanent provost will begin in the coming weeks.
In a news release, Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi said while selecting Langkilde for the interim position, she worked with many stakeholders, including Faculty Senate’s Senate Council and faculty advisory council, deans, chancellors of the commonwealth campuses, vice provosts and other senior administrators
“Tracy’s personal journey as an internationally renowned scholar, her understanding of undergraduate students through the thousands both within the Eberly College and the thousands more who pursue General Education there, her support of research excellence and graduate students, and her commitment to leading collaboratively make her the ideal person to meet these needs at the University level,” Bendapudi said.
As interim executive vice president and provost, Langkilde will provide leadership for Penn State’s academic units, the release states, which include all colleges and campuses. She’ll also be a member of the president’s council, chair Penn State’s council of academic deans and the academic leadership council, and serve as an ex officio member of the University faculty senate and senate council.
The release noted the important role Langkilde will play as the university continues to go through change, such as strategic planning and developing the vision for Penn State’s commonwealth campuses.
“Together with faculty and key leaders across the institution, Langkilde will work to move the Academic Program and Portfolio Review forward and lead key academic leadership searches,” the release stated. “She also will be charged with continuing to develop a University-wide strategy around faculty and student retention, advancing graduate education and seeing through the reunification of Penn State Dickinson Law and Penn State Law.”
Langkilde has been dean of Eberly since 2020 and on the college’s faculty since 2007. As the dean, she led a college with about 460 faculty, 250 staff, 130 postdocs, 1,200 graduate students and 3,800 undergraduate majors. During her time there, she worked collaboratively across colleges and campuses to narrow demographic gaps in student success, according to the release, and led new efforts to support and retain staff in the college.
The release states she has chaired or served on executive searches and on committees focused on institutional change at Penn State, including the Budget Model Working Group and the IT Optimized Service Team.
She’s also published more than 100 refereed journal articles and book chapters, and given numerous invited talks both nationally and internationally.
Langkilde received her bachelor’s degree in tropical biology at James Cook University and doctoral degree in biology at the University of Sydney. She was a Gaylord Donnelley postdoctoral fellow at Yale University.
In the release, said she’s grateful for the opportunity and thanked Bendapudi.
“I have a deep respect for the shared governance that makes universities work, and I will be focused on listening to our community and collaborating with academic leaders to strengthen and advance Penn State,” Langkilde said. “I’m also greatly looking forward to working with the excellent team in the provost’s office and the dedicated deans and chancellors across the commonwealth in enacting President Bendapudi’s vision to strengthen Penn State for the future. I am fortunate that we have an outstanding leader in the Eberly College of Science to assume the role of acting dean during this time.”
Mary Beth Williams, professor of chemistry and senior associate dean of science education in the Eberly College of Science, became the acting dean of the Eberly College of Science on Monday. She joined the chemistry department in 2001 and joined the college leadership in 2009.
