Arden Named NC State University’s Chief Academic Officer

Dr. Warwick A. Arden has been named provost and executive vice chancellor at North Carolina State University.

The appointment was made by Chancellor Randy Woodson and approved today in a meeting of the NC State Board of Trustees’ Academic Affairs and Personnel Committee. Arden’s salary will be $315,000.

As the university’s chief academic officer, the provost oversees the policies and priorities that create and sustain educational excellence across the university’s broad spectrum of academic and student affairs. The provost’s responsibilities include leading academic strategic planning and resource allocation, and overseeing academic personnel matters including faculty recruitment, hiring, retention, performance, promotion, and tenure.

“Dr. Arden is a very accomplished scholar and educator and will provide tremendous leadership as we build on NC State’s rich tradition in academic excellence,” Woodson says.

Arden, 53, has served as NC State’s interim provost since May 2009. Besides guiding university budget planning and co-chairing the university’s ongoing strategic-planning process, he conducted a national search for the College of Education dean position and led reviews of leadership from three NC State colleges.

Before being named interim provost, Arden served as dean of NC State’s College of Veterinary Medicine for almost five years. He led three departments, more than 155 faculty members, 400 staffers, and administered a budget of $68 million. The college is ranked among the top five U.S. colleges of veterinary medicine.

Before coming to NC State, Arden served as a professor and department head at the University of Illinois, and as a professor and veterinary surgeon at the University of Kentucky and Michigan State University.

He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Veterinary Medical Association, the American College of Veterinary Surgeons, the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges, and the N.C. Veterinary Medical Association.

A native of Australia, Arden received a bachelor’s of veterinary sciences and a diploma in veterinary clinical sciences from the University of Sydney in 1981 and 1982, respectively. He earned a master’s degree in physiology from Michigan State University in 1989 and a Ph.D. in physiology and biophysics at the University of Kentucky in 1993.

A 16-member nomination committee of faculty, staff, students and trustees reviewed and interviewed candidates before selecting three finalists, who all interviewed on campus in November.

– kulikowski-