PROVIDENCE – Brown University will be in search of a new provost.
The Ivy League institution announced Thursday that Richard M. Locke, who has served since 2015 as Brown’s 13th provost and has been with the university for about a decade, will leave Brown and the end of the calendar year. Brown says Locke has been named the next vice president and dean of Apple University, part of technology giant Apple Inc. in Cupertino, California.
Locke first came to Brown in 2013 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to serve as the Howard R. Swearer Director of the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. Two years later, Locke elevated to become Brown’s provost, a role he has served overseeing the university’s academics since, Brown said.
During his tenure, Locke, Brown said, launched or strengthened multiple schools, institutes and programs on campus. Among them were the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, the Brown Arts Institute, the Center for Philosophy, Politics and Economics, the Data Science Initiative, the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative and the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship.
Brown also said Locke helped the university reaching its goal set in the 2014-15 academic year of doubling the percentage of faculty from historically underrepresented groups. That percentage has reached 16.7% as of the 2021-22 academic year, Brown said.
“Serving as provost of Brown has been an extraordinary experience,” Locke said in a statement. “It has been a distinct privilege to work with an amazing group of senior academic leaders, faculty, staff, students and alumni who are guided by core values and strive for excellence every day.”
Brown President Christina H. Paxson said in a statement that Locke since arriving at the university has made “lasting contributions that have helped make Brown stronger across the entire academic enterprise.”
The university said it will announce in the coming weeks the steps it will take to find Locke’s successor.
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.
