Three Women Scholars Appointed to Provost Positions at Colleges and Universities

C. Cybele Raver, a distinguished psychologist, has been named provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. For the past nine years, she has been serving as deputy provost at New York University where she provided leadership for faculty, research, and graduate student affairs. Dr. Raver has been a faculty member at New York University for 13 years, most recently as a professor of applied psychology. Her research focuses primarily on early learning and development in the contexts of poverty and policy. Before joining NYU’s faculty in 2007, Dr. Raver held faculty positions at the University of Chicago and Cornell University.

Professor Raver is a graduate of Harvard University. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in developmental psychology at Yale University.

The New School in New York City announced the appointment of Renée T. White as the university’s next provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. She will take office on August 1. Dr. White comes to The New School from Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, where she has served as provost and a professor of sociology since 2016. Previously she was dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Simmons University in Boston from 2011 to 2016. Earlier in her career, Dr. White served as professor of sociology and Black studies at Fairfield University in Connecticut. Dr. White is the editor or co-editor of three books, including the acclaimed Spoils of War: Women of Color, Cultures, and Revolutions (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1997). She is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education.

Dr. White is a graduate of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Yale University.

Linda Essig was appointed provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Baruch College of the City University of New York, effective July 1, 2021. Dr. Essig has been serving as dean of the College of Arts & Letters at California, State University, Los Angeles. Earlier, she was founding director of Arizona State University’s then School of Theatre and Film, director of enterprise and entrepreneurship programs for Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, and chair of the department of theatre and drama and director of University Theatre at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Dr. Essig holds a master of fine art degree from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and a Ph.D. in public administration and public policy from Arizona State University.