Margaret Everett to Join RWU as Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

BRISTOL, R.I. – A distinguished administrator and educator in higher education,Margaret Everett will join Roger Williams University on July 1 as Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, serving as chief academic officer to lead undergraduate and graduate teaching, research, scholarship, and service for the university.

Everett, who has been acting as Provost and Vice President at Lesley University, will serve as a strategic leader across RWU’s six schools of study and collaborate with the School of Law and University College, empowering the faculty in the delivery of our distinctive educational programs focused on community engagement and civic scholarship. With extensive experience in leading faculty and developing innovative, interdisciplinary programs, Everett is well-positioned to inspire the diverse constituencies across RWU’s campuses in Bristol and Providence, and design new academic models and programs that enhance the university’s mission to strengthen society through engaged teaching and learning.

“I am thrilled to have Dr. Everett join our leadership team as we guide Roger Williams University through a period of tremendous innovation and growth in our scope and reputation,” said RWU President Ioannis Miaoulis. “With her exceptional leadership and strategic skills, Dr. Everett will champion an academic vision that strengthens our student-centered approach to engaged teaching, learning and scholarship. I am confident that she will elevate the university’s unique blend of liberal arts and professional programs and deepen our commitments to diversity and inclusion, and to lifelong learning.”

Everett was selected following a nationwide search conducted by Storbeck Search & Associates that included various campus forums and an interview process. The university search committee, led by co-chairs Professor of Biology Kerri Warren and RWU University College Vice President Jamie Scurry, was comprised of administrators, faculty, and staff across both campuses.

“We could not be more excited to welcome Dr. Everett into the RWU community. From our first meeting, it was easy to see that she is an effective leader and coalition builder,” said Warren. “Not only is Dr. Everett a teacher-scholar with great energy and a strong dedication to student success, she brings with her a demonstrated commitment to faculty support, inclusive excellence, curriculum development, faculty-student research and community partnerships.”

“I am so honored to join Roger Williams University at this moment in its history,” Everett said. “I look forward to working with President Miaoulis and the faculty and staff to enhance the innovative, high-caliber blend of liberal arts and professional programs, with strong ties to the local and global communities, that ensures a Roger Williams education remains resilient and relevant and that we continue to prepare students for their future success in any profession, anywhere in the world.”

Since 2018, Everett has served as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Cambridge’s Lesley University, where she helped launch a continuing education campus in New Bedford, Mass., and expanded community college partnerships that enable degree completion for first-generation, low-income and diverse students. During her tenure, she developed an open educational resources initiative that innovated curriculum and reduced costs to students, and launched new bachelors and masters in social work programs that incorporated interdisciplinary offerings in neurodiversity.

Prior to Lesley University, Everett spent 22 years teaching and working in key leadership roles at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, where she led many initiatives that align with RWU strategic priorities such as redesigning graduate admissions services and creating international partnerships in Asia, Latin America and Europe, while also serving as a professor of anthropology, sociology and international studies.

Everett holds a Ph.D. and M.Phil. in anthropology from Yale University and Bachelor of Arts in Latin American Studies from Smith College.She has contributed to several books and authored articles on public health and labor issues in Latin America through an anthropological and sociological lens, and on questions surrounding morality and privacy in bioethics and genetic ethics. During her tenure at PSU, she received the Excellence in Community-University Partnerships Award and the John Eliot Outstanding Teaching Award. She has served as chair-elect of the board of trustees for the World Affairs Council of Oregon, as well as on the steering committee for GlobalPDX, the Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers Advisory Committee for the Oregon Department of Human Services, and several genetics research and genetics privacy advisory committees appointed by the Oregon state legislature.