Rebecca Kohn was announced as Elon University’s next provost and vice president for academic affairs, according to a Nov. 3 email from university President Connie Book. 

Kohn will join Elon Jan. 2, 2023 from Arcadia University in Glenside, Pennsylvania, where she currently serves as the senior vice provost and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. 

Kohn did not respond to Elon News Network’s immediate request for comment. In a previous interview with ENN, Kohn said she wants to hear more from students about the strategic plan Elon has in place and how best Kohn can help students feel like the plan represents them. 

“I would love to hear about where they see the institution already supporting them and where they hope it's going,” Kohn said. “I know that the strategic plan Boldly Elon is really important to the entire community and it seems as if faculty staff and students are aware of the different themes in the strategic plan and how it connects to them. So something I would love to hear from students is how they see themselves mirrored in the strategic plan and what they'd most like to see emerge from it.”

A provost is a chief academic officer in charge of the university’s academic and budgetary affairs. The provost is the position directly under the president of a university and deals with long-term student planning.

Book provided a statement to faculty and staff sharing Kohn’s background.

Raghu Tadepalli, dean of the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, has been acting as interim provost, and Tim Peeples, senior associate provost for faculty affairs, has been serving as interim vice president for academic affairs. 

The decision comes after the three finalists — Kohn, Elizabeth Sayrs and Robert Aguirre — visited campus Oct. 5 to 7 to speak on how they would implement the Boldly Elon Strategic Plan and answer questions from community members. Afterward, the provost search committee took feedback from students, faculty and staff and gave their recommendation to President Connie Book. 

Aswani Volety, former provost, left the university last May to become chancellor of University of North Carolina at Wilmington in May. Husser, professor of political science and policy studies and chair of Academic Council, and Williams, vice president for finance and administration, have been leading the 23-member search committee to replace him.