Stetson University hires from within, naming Dean Elizabeth Skomp new provost
Stetson University has named Elizabeth Skomp its next provost and vice president for academic affairs.
Skomp has been dean of the College of Arts & Sciences since 2019.
"Stetson is so fortunate to have secured Dr. Elizabeth Skomp for this vital leadership role," university President Christopher Roellke said in a news release. "Dr. Skomp is a champion of a broad liberal arts education and is also highly skilled in addressing the myriad of challenges and opportunities contained within the higher education landscape."
Skomp will start in her new role on July 1, after Noel Painter steps down after seven years as provost. Painter will take a sabbatical and then return to the faculty in the School of Music.
A national search for Skomp's replacement as dean is expected to launch in the fall.
"During my four years at Stetson, the evident commitment to creating transformative learning experiences for our students has impressed me time and time again, and Stetson's mission to provide a creative community where learning and values meet has resonated deeply with me," Skomp said in the news release.
Who is Elizabeth Skomp?
In addition to her role as dean, Skomp was also professor of World Languages and Cultures, specializing in Russian.
Her areas of expertise are Slavic, East European and Eurasian studies and literature, as well as women in Slavic studies. She has taught courses in beginning, intermediate and advanced Russian, Manifestos, Movements and Terrorism, Russian authors Vladimir Nabokov and Leo Tolstoy, Putin's Russia and Protest Culture and Russian and Soviet film, among others.
In 2015, she wrote a book, "Ludmila Ulitskaya and the Art of Tolerance," about a celebrated Russian novelist who has spoken out against the Vladimir Putin regime and Russia's war in Ukraine.
Before she arrived at Stetson, Skomp served as associate dean for faculty development and inclusion at the University of the South (Sewanee), where she had also served as a professor of Russian since 2005.
She has also taught at Williams College in Massachusetts, DePauw University in Indiana and the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
She earned her bachelor's degree at Indiana University and a Ph.D. from University College London, where she was a British Marshall Scholar.
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Accomplishments as dean
Stetson listed the following university initiatives in which Skomp played "a key leadership role":
Advancing the health and science initiative by co-chairing planning for the Cici & Hyatt Brown Hall for Health and Innovation and the renovation of Sage Hall Science Center.
Serving on senior university diversity, equity and inclusion leadership teams and implementing inclusive hiring practices in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Launching the LaValle Scholar-Artist program and LaValle Experimental Learning Fund for students in the Creative Arts, following a bequest by Ormond Beach resident Antoinette LaValle.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Stetson hires Arts and Sciences dean as new provost, vp for academics
