Kim A. Wilcox, who has served as Michigan State University’s provost since 2005, has announced plans to step down as the chief academic officer effective July 1, 2013.
As part of that transition, effective Jan. 1, Wilcox will begin working with the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa, a nonprofit organization with strong MSU ties started in 2001 to promote sustainability. Also at that time, Senior Associate Provost June Youatt will be named acting provost.
“Serving as provost for MSU has been one of the most rewarding endeavors of my career,” Wilcox said. “I have a deep and abiding love of this university that is unshakable. I will carry it with me wherever I go.”
Wilcox came to East Lansing as provost in August 2005 from the University of Kansas. During his tenure, he oversaw the introduction and growth of a variety of academic initiatives, from expanded medical schools to statewide outreach focused on making college more accessible to new global partnerships. The success in international work, and particularly the work in Africa, builds on a long MSU tradition that has been recently recognized with major awards from the MasterCard Foundation, USAID and the Millennium Challenge Corp.
“With MSU’s deep and established roots in Africa, I am excited to work with the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa and help position that organization for future success,” Wilcox said.
The Washington, D.C.-based partnership, a coalition of U.S. and African universities, public companies and private organizations, focuses on demand-driven agricultural investments in Africa. From its founding, a primary mission of the partnership was to build support for solutions to the food problems in Africa. Its focus builds on the strengths of MSU in Africa and the partnerships’ existing relationship with African leaders and their countries.
“Provost Wilcox has been a champion of not only MSU but of higher education as a whole,” President Lou Anna K. Simon said. “He has led tremendous forward progress in our academic programs, helping position MSU as a global leader in a knowledge-based economy.
“Along with the rest of the MSU community, I thank him for his service and many contributions, and I feel fortunate to have someone the campus trusts working with the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa during such a crucial period in its history.”
Under Wilcox’s leadership, MSU has grown its enrollment to more than 49,000 students while raising the academic credentials of the entering class, increasing the percentage of students from underrepresented groups, decreasing the average time to degree, increasing the graduation rate for undergraduates and decreasing the percentage of students graduating with any accumulated debt.
During his tenure, external grant and contract activity has risen to more than $500 million per year, reflecting a host of new research and outreach initiatives across the campus.
Wilcox also has served as chairperson of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation since 2011 and recently was elected chairperson of the Council on Academic Affairs of the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities.