Katherine Clay Bassard Will Be the Next Provost at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee

Katherine Clay Bassard was named provost and vice president for academic affairs at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. Bassard will also serve as a professor of English and Africana studies. She will begin her new role in July.

“I feel a deep alignment between Rhodes College’s mission as a residential liberal arts college serving a talented and diverse student body and my own values as a teacher, scholar, and administrator,” Dr. Bassard said. “As a first-generation college student, the liberal arts education I received at Wake Forest University instilled a deep love of learning and of academic rigor which became the foundation for my journey as a teacher, scholar, and academic leader. I am excited to find a similar commitment to liberal arts education at Rhodes.”

Dr. Bassard currently serves as a professor of English and interim senior associate dean for faculty affairs in the College of Humanities and Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University. Earlier, she was senior vice provost for faculty affairs at Virginia Commonwealth. Dr. Bassard began her academic career in 1992 at the University of California, Berkeley.

Professor Bassard is a graduate of Wake Forest University. She holds a master’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and a doctorate from Rutgers University in New Jersey.