Martha Saunders Named Provost at the University of West Florida

Martha Saunders was appointed provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of West Florida in Pensacola. She will begin her new job on January 2.

From 2007 to this past June, Dr. Saunders was president of the University of Southern Mississippi. This semester she has served on the faculty at the Gulf Coast campus of the University of Southern Mississippi in Long Beach.

Prior to her becoming president at the University of Southern Mississippi, she was chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where she was the first woman chancellor. Prior to that position, Dr. Saunders was vice president for academic affairs at Columbus State University in Georgia. She began her academic career at the University of West Florida in 1984 as a faculty member in the department of communication arts. In 2000, she was named dean of the university’s College of Arts and Sciences.

A native of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Dr. Saunders earned a bachelor’s degree in French at the University of Southern Mississippi. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Georgia and a Ph.D. in communication theory and research from Florida State University.