New Mexico State University has named Rebecca Campbell, Ph.D., as associate provost for academic administration, where she will provide leadership and development in support of faculty administrators such as deans, directors and department heads, as well as continuous process improvement efforts through refinement of policies and procedures based on best practices.
In addition to working closely with the deans, associate deans and department heads, she will collaborate with the leadership of many offices and units, including the Faculty Senate; Policy Office; Human Resource Services; Employee and Labor Relations; Equity, Inclusion and Diversity; Institutional Equity; and the General Counsel. She begins her new role May 24 and will report directly to Provost Carol Parker.
“I am extremely pleased that Dr. Campbell will soon be joining NMSU,” Parker said. “Her experiences as both a professor and in academic leadership roles give her the ability to trace how our academic administrative policies and practices directly affect the success of both students and faculty. Dr. Campbell’s work will be key to our efforts to build a robust university system through efficient, effective and empowering operations that align with our strategic goals.”
Campbell has more than 25 years of experience in higher education. Her research and leadership have centered on student success and how the university community can create the context for students, faculty and academic leadership to thrive together.
She has served in multiple leadership roles at Northern Arizona University including department head of Academic Transition Programs, chair of the Faculty Grievance Committee, and as associate dean of the College of Education. She was also named a President’s Distinguished Teaching Fellow and is an Association of College and University Educators-accredited educator. Campbell currently serves as a Student Success Academy mentor for the Higher Learning Commission, as editor for E-Source for Student Transitions for the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, and a visiting scholar at the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education.
Campbell calls herself an “Aggie squared,” with two bachelor’s degrees from NMSU, and a master’s and Ph.D. from Texas A&M University. Her research focuses on the first-year experience, student success courses and pedagogy in gateway courses.
“I am thrilled to be coming home to Las Cruces and NMSU to give back to the community that facilitated my own professional growth. I am particularly excited to work at an institution that has the vision to see that fostering student success and faculty research are complimentary goals,” Campbell said. “I’m looking forward to working collaboratively to develop and hone the policies, practices and faculty administrator support and development that will lead to those outcomes.”
Parker thanks the search committee, including College of Engineering Dean Lakshmi Reddi and NMSU associate deans Mary Jo Billiot and Phillip Post, as well as those who provided thoughtful feedback during the course of the search process.