Provosts

Andreas Cangellaris began serving as Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on January 16, 2018. He earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1985, having previously completed a master’s degree in electrical engineering at the Berkeley campus and an electrical engineering degree at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.

Dr. Cangellaris has served as head of the department of electrical and computer engineering since 2013. He continues to hold the position of M.E. Van Valkenburg Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He arrived at the Urbana campus in 1997 as a professor of electrical and computer engineering after serving as an assistant and then associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Arizona.

Over the course of his 30-year academic career, Dr. Cangellaris’ focus has been on the fields of applied and computational electromagnetics; stochastic, multidomain physics modeling; and system-level electromagnetic compatibility. In addition to supervising 47 master’s students and 28 doctoral candidates, he has authored or co-written more than 280 referred journal and conference publications, and has led the development of several prototype tools for computer-aided analysis and design of RF, microwave and high-speed digital electronic systems.

John Applegate was named Interim Executive Vice President and Provost of Indiana University on July 1, 2021. He received his bachelors from Haverford College and his juris doctorate degree from Harvard University.

He joined Indiana University faculty in 1998. In 2007, he was appointed Indiana University's first Presidential Fellow, serving both retired President Adam Herbert and former President Michael McRobbie as a senior member of the IU president's staff. He served as IU’s executive vice president for university academic affairs from 2013–21.

Nationally recognized for his work in environmental risk assessment and policy analysis, he has written many articles on the regulation of toxic substances and public participation in environmental decisions.

In addition,  Applegate is an award-winning teacher, known for his ability to present complex information with an engaging style and wry wit. His courses include Toxic Substances and Hazardous Wastes, International Environmental Law, Property, and Administrative Law.

Kevin Kregel was named Interim Provost in July 2020 and became permanent in February 2021. He earned a bachelor’s degree and doctorate (physiology & biophysics) from the University of Iowa, and subsequently performed an NIH postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Arizona. In 1993, Dr. Kregel joined the faculty at the University of Iowa, and currently holds the rank of full professor.

He was department executive officer in the Department of Health & Human Physiology prior to his appointment as Associate Provost. He has been serving as Interim Executive Vice President and Senior Associate Provost for Faculty since July 2019.

Dr. Kregel’s activities at the University of Iowa have included service on numerous collegiate and university committees, along with participation on steering committees for two campus-wide cluster hire initiatives.  His extramurally funded research laboratory at the University of Iowa has focused on physiological adjustments to exercise, aging, and environmental challenges. He has also been very active in leadership positions at the national level, including service as the chair of committees addressing science policy issues for the Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology and the American Physiological Society.

Susan M. Collins was named Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Michigan in July 2020. She earned her bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard and her doctorate in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Collins joined the Michigan faculty in 2007, serving as the Joan and Sanford Weill dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy until 2017. Currently she is the Edward M. Gramlich Collegiate Professor of Public Policy as well as professor of economics in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.

Prior to her appointment at Michigan, Dr. Collins was professor of economics at Georgetown University and senior fellow in the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institution (where she retains a non-resident affiliation). She started her career as a faculty member at Harvard University. She has also served as a senior economist for the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, and as a visiting scholar at the International Monetary Fund. Dr. Collins received her undergraduate degree in economics, summa cum laude, from Harvard University and her doctorate in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

An international macroeconomist, Dr. Collins has a lifelong interest in understanding and fostering policies to improve living standards in countries at all levels of development. Her research has focused on understanding economic growth, the roles of China and India in the global economy, cross-border financial integration, and linkages between trade and labor markets, among other topics. She edited the Brookings Trade Forum from 1999 to 2007.

She is a board member of the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She has served as President of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs, as a member of the American Economic Association (AEA) Executive Committee and as chair of the AEA’s Committee on the Status of Minority Groups in the Economics Profession.

Of Jamaican descent, Dr. Collins grew up in the United States and became a U.S. citizen in 1997.

Teresa Kaye Woodruff was named the Michigan State University’s Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs beginning August 2020. Woodruff earned a doctorate in biochemistry, molecular biology, and cell biology from Northwestern University and holds a Bachelor of Science in zoology and chemistry from Olivet Nazarene University. She holds honorary degrees from Bates College and the University of Birmingham, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, United Kingdom.

Dr. Woodruff previously served as Dean of the Graduate School and Associate Provost for Graduate Education at Northwestern University and is an expert in ovarian biology and reproductive science. In 2006, she coined the term “oncofertility” to describe the merging of two fields: oncology and fertility. Oncofertility is now globally recognized as a medical discipline. In addition, she is an advocate for women in science and led efforts to change federal policy to mandate the use of females in fundamental National Institutes of Health research. She is past president of the Endocrine Society and current editor-in-chief of Endocrinology.

Widely recognized for her commitment to teaching and mentoring, Woodruff was presented with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring by President Barack Obama in an Oval Office ceremony in 2011. Woodruff holds 14 U.S. patents and is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Inventors, the American Institute for Medical and Biomedical Engineers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Rachel T. A. Croson became Executive Vice President and Provost on March 30, 2020. She completed her undergraduate work in economics and philosophy with a minor in political science at the University of Pennsylvania before receiving her master’s degree and doctorate in economics from Harvard University. 

Dr. Croson came to the University of Minnesota from Michigan State University, where she served as dean of the College of Social Science and Michigan State University Foundation Professor of Economics. She also served as dean of the School of Business at the University of Texas at Arlington, division director for Social and Economic Sciences at the National Science Foundation, professor and director of the Negotiations Center at the University of Texas at Dallas, and associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Her research focuses on bargaining and negotiation as well as public goods provision, and uses experimental approaches to study management. She has served on the Editorial Boards of the American Economic Review, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Journal of International Business Studies, and  Decision and Risk Analysis. She is known for her papers on gender differences in economic behavior and for her mentorship and advice to women in the economics profession, and was the 2017 winner of the Carolyn Shaw Bell Award from the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession.

Elizabeth Spiller became Executive Vice Chancellor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in March, 2020.  She earned her bachelor’s in English literature from Amherst College. She holds a master’s in English and a doctorate in American language and literature from Harvard University.

Dr. Spiller previously served as dean of the College of Letters and Science at the University of California at Davis as well as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech. Her higher education experience includes appointments at four Research 1 institutions (University of California at Davis, Virginia Tech, Florida State University and the University of North Texas). 

A scholar of Renaissance literature, she specializes in early modern literature and culture with an emphasis on the history of reading, and on literature and science. She is the author of two books,Reading and the History of Race in the Renaissance(2011) and  Science, Reading and Renaissance Literature: The Art of Making Knowledge, 1580-1670 (2004), both published by Cambridge University Press. She has also edited two collections and is widely published. Spiller has twice been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and earned a Fulbright Fellowship.

Kathleen M. Hagerty was appointed as Provost at Northwestern University on September 1, 2020. She completed her bachelor’s in mathematics, masters of business administration and masters of science in operations research at the University of California, Berkeley. She earned her Ph.D. in economics at Stanford University.

She joined Kellogg School of Management more than 30 years ago and holds the First Chicago Professorship in Finance. Dr. Hagerty has held numerous leadership positions within Kellogg, including serving two terms as senior associate dean of faculty and research, two terms as chair of the finance department and two years as faculty director of Kellogg’s Ph.D. programs.

Her work has studied the micro-structure of securities markets, disclosure regulation, insider trading regulation and the effectiveness of self-regulatory organizations. Her research has appeared in journals such asThe Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Political Economy and The Journal of Finance. She received a Bradley Foundation Research Fellowship and received the D.P. Jacobs Prize for the Most Significant Paper in the Journal of Financial Intermediation. She has also been a member of the editorial board of the Review of Financial Studies and the  Journal of Financial Markets.

Bruce A. McPheron was named Executive Vice President and Provost at The Ohio State University in June 2016. He earned his bachelor’s degree in entomology at Ohio State and a master's degree in biology and a doctorate in entomology at the University of Illinois.

He joined The Ohio State University after serving for three and one-half years as Dean of Pennsylvania State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences. He served as chair of the Policy Board of Directors of Agriculture for the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities. Currently, Dr. McPheron is a member of the Discovery Theme executive team and leads the university’s Food Production and Security theme. 

Dr. McPheron’s research expertise focused on the use of genetic tools to examine population structure in pest insects. His molecular diagnostic methods for source identification of Mediterranean fruit fly developed in his laboratory have been adopted by USDA-APHIS and several state and international agencies. He has taught a wide range of classes in entomology and has traveled internationally sharing his expertise.

Jay T. Akridge was named Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Diversity in November 2017. He received his doctorate in agricultural economics in 1986 from Purdue University specializing in marketing and finance. His master’s degree in agricultural economics with an emphasis in agribusiness management and finance is also from Purdue. Dr. Akridge earned his bachelor’s degree — a double major in agriculture and business administration — in 1982 from Murray State University in Murray, KY.

Dr. Akridge was appointed Purdue University Dean of Agriculture in 2009, prior to being named dean, Dr. Akridge was the James and Lois Ackerman Professor of Agricultural Economics and served as Director of the Center for Food and Agricultural Business and the MS-MBA in food and agribusiness management (a partnership with the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University). He served as Interim Vice Provost for Engagement at Purdue in 2007–08.

Dr. Akridge was named a University Faculty Scholar in 2000. In 1996, he received the Charles Murphy Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching — Purdue’s highest teaching award. He was added to the Purdue University Book of Great Teachers in 2003 and was also awarded the USDA Food and Ag Science Excellence in Teaching Award that year.

His research has examined the buying behavior of commercial agricultural producers, innovations in marketing strategies by agribusiness firms, and adoption of new technology by agribusiness. He has worked with agribusiness managers in the areas of strategy and marketing in more than 20 countries including Lithuania, Hungary, Australia, Argentina, Cameroon, and China. 

Prabhas Moghe was named Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs of Rutgers University effective October 5, 2020, and was appointed Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Research and Academic Affairs for Rutgers–New Brunswick in July, 2019. Dr. Moghe received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Bombay (UDCT), his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering (Specialty: Bioengineering) from the University of Minnesota in 1993, and trained on a postdoctoral fellowship in Bioengineering at Harvard Medical School from 1993 to 1995.

Dr. Moghe has been on the University of Rutgers faculty since 1995 and was named a Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, in 2013, earning honors for his teaching and innovative research on tissue engineering and nanomedicine, which has been widely published in leading scholarly journals. A recipient of the university’s Leadership in Diversity Award, Dr. Moghe is actively leading programs to broaden the participation of minority students in STEM disciplines. 

He has directed two National Science Foundation-sponsored graduate training programs spanning 12 years—in biologic interfaces and in stem cell science and engineering. In addition to his School of Engineering appointment, he has also served as an adjunct professor of surgery at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School since 2008 and is Full Member of the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey.

He has also launched programs to promote the advancement of women in STEM fields, especially in computer science, through partnerships with Douglass Residential College and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and programs to foster a more vibrant, innovative, and creative mindset among Rutgers students. He was also named a fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society, the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, and the International Union of Societies for Biomaterials Science and Engineering.

Karl Scholz became Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs of the University of Wisconsin-Madison on August 5, 2019. His undergraduate degree is from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and his PhD is from Stanford University. 

Prior to this appointment, Dr.  Scholz was the Dean of the College of Letters & Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was named the Nellie June Gray Professor of Economic Policy in the department of economics, which he joined in 1988. He directed the Institute for Research on Poverty at University of Wisconsin–Madison from 2000-2004. In 1997-98, he was the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Analysis at the U.S. Treasury Department, and from 1990-91 he was a senior staff economist at the Council of Economic Advisors.

Dr. Scholz researches on topics including household savings, the earned income tax credit and low-wage labor markets, financial barriers to higher education, and bankruptcy laws. His research has appeared in economics journals, including The American Economic Review, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Political Economy, and the Review of Economic Studies.

In 2007,Dr. Scholz and his colleagues, Ananth Seshadri and Surachai Khitatrakun, were awarded the twelfth annual TIAA-CREF Paul A. Samuelson Award for Outstanding Scholarly Writing on Lifelong Financial Security for their paper "Are Americans Saving 'Optimally' for Retirement. " He is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Ka Yee C. Lee was named Provost of the University of Chicago on February 1, 2020. Ka Yee received her undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Brown University, and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in applied physics at Harvard University. She did postdoctoral training at Stanford University and the University of California, Santa Barbara. 

Dr. Lee’s research focus lies in the area of membrane biophysics, and she is the author or co-author of more than 125 scholarly publications. She joined the University of Chicago in 1998 as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and was appointed full professor in 2008. She also has academic appointments in the James Franck Institute, the Institute for Biophysical Dynamics and as the Vice Provost for Research for the university. 

Dr. Lee is an elected member of the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and a fellow of the American Physical Society. She was a Searle Scholar, a David and Lucile Packard Fellow for Science and Engineering, and a Sloan Research Fellow. At the University of Chicago, she was a recipient of the Llewellyn John and Harriet Manchester Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, and the inaugural recipient in 2013 of the Arthur L. Kelly Prize for Exceptional Faculty Service in the Physical Sciences Division.