Two Women Who Have Been Appointed to Positions as College Provosts

Jan Roberts-Breslin, dean of graduate and professional studies, will take up the role of interim provost and vice president of academic affairs at Emerson College in Boston.

Roberts-Breslin taught at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey, before joining Emerson in 1990 as a professor in the visual and media arts department. She was named interim dean of graduate studies in 2014 and appointed dean three years later. She founded Emerson’s master of fine arts degree program in film and media art program. She is an award-winning video artist and author of Making Media: Foundations of Sound and Image Production (Routledge, 4th edition, 2017).

Professor Roberts-Breslin holds a master of fine arts degree in film and video production from Temple University in Philadelphia.

Damara Hightower Mitchell is the provost and vice president for academic affairs at Voorhees College in Denmark, South Carolina. Dr. Hightower Mitchell came to Voorhees in 2020 to establish the Center of Excellence for Educator Preparation and Innovation. The center provides professional learning opportunities and resources for practicing and prospective South Carolina teachers from diverse, nontraditional backgrounds and will prepare them to raise student achievement and eradicate persistent achievement gaps while also addressing systemic inequities in education. Since January, she has served as interim provost.

Before coming to Voorhees College, Dr. Hightower Mitchell taught at Claflin University, the University of South Carolina, and Benedict College. Her scholarship and publications center on educational equity for underserved populations, educator preparation at historically Black colleges and universities, African diaspora literacy, and the intersectionality of being a mother and educator.

Dr. Hightower Mitchell is a graduate of Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina, where she majored in English education. She holds a master’s degree in educational leadership and supervision from the University of Southern Mississippi and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from the University of South Carolina.