Rachel Davis Mersey Is the New Provost at the University of Texas at Austin

The University of Texas at Austin has promoted Rachel Davis Mersey to executive vice president and provost. In this role, Mersey will serve as the University’s chief academic officer and oversee a broad portfolio that includes enrollment management and the university’s billion-dollar research enterprise. Dr. Mersey has held the position on an interim basis since August 27. She also holds the Everett D. Collier Centennial Chair in the university’s School of Journalism and Media.

Earlier, Professor Mersey was the dean of the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas. Before joining the faculty at the University of Texas, Dr. Mersey was a professor and the associate dean for research in the Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

“The increased demand for an exceptional University of Texas education is directly linked to our ability to attract top faculty and student talent, develop new ways to positively impact the world through research, and produce a new generation of leaders,” Dr. Mersey said. “It is important that we build on all phases of this incredible trajectory.”

Dr. Mersey earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and a Ph.D. in mass communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.