Dr. Carol A. Fierke, provost and executive vice president at Texas A&M University since 2017, will be Brandeis University’s next provost, executive vice president and chief academic officer, effective January 1, 2021, according to Brandeis officials.
Prior to Texas A&M, Fierke – a biochemist and proponent of women and underrepresented peoples in STEM – held several roles at the University of Michigan, such as chemistry department chair and vice provost and dean of the Rackham Graduate School.
Fierke has hundreds of papers and dozens of awards to her name, including the American Chemical Society’s Repligen Award in Chemistry of Biological Processes, the Protein Society’s Emil Thomas Kaiser Award and the Mildred Cohn Award in Biological Chemistry from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
“Dr. Fierke will bring to Brandeis a history of success in managing the operations of complex research institutions,” said Brandeis President Ron Liebowitz. “Her academic career in both research and mentorship has embodied the type of connectivity and excellence that makes Brandeis distinctive. And as a consensus builder with a demonstrated commitment to making institutions more diverse, equitable and inclusive, Dr. Fierke is already a champion of the values that have defined the Brandeis community since 1948.”
She holds an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Carleton College and a doctoral degree in biochemistry from Brandeis.