Joyce E. McConnell has been named president of Colorado State University in Fort Collins. The university enrolls over 33,000 students. Women make up 52 percent of the undergraduate student body. Professor McConnell will assume her new duties on July 1, 2019.
Currently, Professor McConnell serves as provost and vice president for academic affairs at West Virginia University; a role she has held since 2014. In addition to her administrative role, she serves as the Thomas R. Goodwin Professor of Law and has been a faculty member at WVU since 1995. She previously served as associate dean for academic affairs at the university’s College of Law. Earlier in her career, she held faculty appointments at the University of Maryland School of Law, the City University of New York School of Law, and the Georgetown University Law Center.
“CSU is a national leader in higher education, and the achievements of its students, faculty and staff collectively have built a powerful momentum and an upward trajectory of success for generations of Rams to come. I look forward to being a part of that journey with you,” Professor McConnell said. “My decision to leave West Virginia and West Virginia University after more than 20 years of service to both the university and the state was not an easy one, but Colorado State University’s mission, values and character presented an irresistible opportunity to lead one of the nation’s great land-grant universities into the future.”
Professor McConnell is a graduate of Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. She holds a master of laws degree from the Georgetown University Law Center and a juris doctorate from the Antioch School of Law.