Badia Ahad to Lead Academic Affairs at Emory University

On November 1, Badia Ahad will begin a two-year term as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

Dr. Ahad, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English, joined the Emory faculty in 2023 as dean of Oxford College, an undergraduate residential college for first- and second-year students on Emory’s original campus in Oxford, Georgia. Before arriving at Emory, she was vice provost for faculty affairs at Loyola University Chicago, where she taught for nearly two decades. During her tenure there, she also spent ten years at director of academic training with the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity.

As a scholar, Dr. Ahad studies African American literature and culture and positive psychology, with a focus on the social, emotional, and psychological conditions that foster human flourishing. She is also an expert on faculty development and has led research on the retention and equity of underrepresented faculty members.

“As provost, I will advance Emory’s academic mission by enhancing the conditions in which our students thrive and our faculty produce life-changing, life-saving scholarship and research,” said Dr. Ahad. “The breadth of this work — from the arts and humanities to clinical research and AI — distinguishes Emory as one of the nation’s finest institutions. Even with all we have achieved, I believe we have tremendous potential to create even greater impact in the lives of our students and in the service of humanity.”

A graduate of the University of Illinois, Dr. Ahad earned her master’s degree and Ph.D. both in English literature from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.