Drew University Dean Named as UMW Provost

Jonathan Levin has been named to the position of provost of the University of Mary Washington. Levin has spent more than 20 years in higher education, including nearly a decade as an administrator. Currently, he serves as dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Drew University in Madison, N.J.

Jonathan Levin has been named UMW’s provost. Photo courtesy of Drew University.

Levin will serve as the chief academic officer at UMW and will be responsible for oversight of all academic programs, academic planning and budgets and faculty matters. Working with the deans and the faculty, the provost provides leadership of major university initiatives in teaching, research and creative activities and has responsibility for all university educational and academic policies. He also will oversee enrollment management. Levin will begin work on June 25, 2013.

“I am extremely pleased that Dr. Levin has agreed to come to UMW,” said President Richard V. Hurley. “His background and experience will be a tremendous asset as we move the institution forward.”

Levin has served as dean and professor of English at Drew for five years, during which time he has coordinated all aspects of undergraduate curriculum development and assessment at the private liberal arts and sciences university in New Jersey. While at the institution, he oversaw development and implementation of several new programs, including the Baldwin Honors and Civic Scholars programs, as well as a new general education curriculum. During his tenure, Drew experienced substantial growth in underrepresented student populations and improved its academic profile.

Prior to Drew, Levin spent three years as dean of the School of Humanities at State University of New York at Purchase. During his time at Purchase, Levin led a redesign of the general education program and implemented collaborative campus-wide initiatives.

Levin also has served as chair of the Department of English, acting director of American studies and associate professor of English at Fordham University and as associate professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University.

The author of “The Poetics of Transition: Emerson, Pragmatism & American Literary Modernism,” Levin has published numerous articles in scholarly journals on 19th- and 20th-century American literature and culture.

Levin earned a bachelor of arts in English and French from the University of Michigan, a master of arts in English from the University of California at Los Angeles and a Ph.D. in English from Rutgers University.