NORTON – Touba Ghadessi, an art history professor at Wheaton College who has been the college’s interim provost for the past year, has been named the college’s new provost and vice president of academic affairs on a permanent basis, Wheaton President Michaele Whelan announced Monday.
Ghadessi has served as Wheaton’s interim provost since July 2021 after Renee T. White departed the private college last August to become New York-based The New School’s new provost. Ghadessi, Whelan said, will start her permanent provost role at Wheaton on July 1.
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“In my conversations with faculty this spring, I found overwhelming enthusiasm for Touba’s leadership in academic affairs, her advocacy for faculty, and her collaborative approach to management and shared governance,” Whelan said in her letter to the campus community about Ghadessi’s appointment.
Whelan said Ghadessi, who has been with Wheaton since 2007, had served as the college’s associate provost for academic administration and faculty affairs. She also from 2013 through 2017 was the chair of the college’s art history department and launched the Wheaton Institute for the Interdisciplinary Humanities in 2012 – serving as the institute’s co-director for two years.
Ghadessi, outside of Wheaton, also spent time serving on local nonprofit boards. Among them, Whelan said, were the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities and the Providence Athenaeum. Ghadessi also is a past joint president for the New England Renaissance Conference.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
