Sonja Feist-Price will be the next provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Michigan-Flint. She will begin her appointment on August 1, 2020.
“Nelson Mandela said that ‘education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,’” said Dr. Feist-Price. “Serving as the University of Michigan-Flint’s next provost affords me the opportunity to have a direct and profound impact on the lives of students and to help them realize how they might change the world.”
Professor Feist-Price currently serves as the vice president for institutional diversity and professor in the Department of Early Childhood, Special Education and Counselor Education in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky. Prior to her current position, she has held a number of different appointments at the University of Kentucky, including senior assistant provost, assistant provost for faculty affairs, and academic ombudsperson.
A faculty member at the University of Kentucky since 1992, Feist-Price came up through the ranks to the level of full professor before moving to administrative roles. An accomplished scholar, her research has centered on such areas as ex-offenders with disabilities in correctional settings, service provisions among veterans with disabilities, and HIV prevention among persons at greatest risk, particularly women and adolescents.
Professor Feist-Price is a graduate of McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where she majored in psychology. She holds a master’s degree from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a doctor of rehabilitation degree from Southern Illinois University, and a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the University of Kentucky.