FAU Names Brenda Claiborne as university provost and chief academic officer

BOCA RATON — Florida Atlantic University has named Brenda Claiborne, Ph.D., as university provost and chief academic officer.  She will be in charge of advancing FAU’s overall educational mission while supporting the entrepreneurial spirit of a growing university.

“Dr. Claiborne’s impressive background has prepared her well to meet the challenges of leading FAU’s academic enterprise,” said FAU President Mary Jane Saunders. “She has real depth of experience in every aspect of institutional leadership, including curriculum and enrollment management, comprehensive academic planning, outcomes assessment and the administration of academic personnel and budgets. We are very glad that she will soon be joining the FAU family.”

As provost and chief academic officer, Claiborne will lead the Division of Academic Affairs, directing the development and delivery of all academic programs at FAU while overseeing the division’s budget and personnel. The Division of Academic Affairs comprises 10 colleges that deliver more than 130 degree programs at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels. Related areas, such as the University Libraries and the Lifelong Learning Society, also come under the division’s umbrella.

Claiborne has been the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, a professor in the department of biology, and a professor in the department of neurosciences within the School of Medicine at the University of New Mexico since 2007. Prior to that, she was at the University of Texas-San Antonio, where she was founding director of the Institute for Aging Research, dean of graduate studies and associate vice president for research.

Claiborne holds a Ph.D. in biology from University of California, San Diego, a Master of Science degree in biology from the University of Oregon and a Bachelor of Arts degree in zoology from the University of California, Berkeley.