Michael Austin, Ph.D. will assume the duties of Newman University provost and vice president for Academic Affairs beginning Monday, June 2. Austin was selected for the position in December 2008 following a national search to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of B. Lee Cooper, Ph.D.
Austin comes to Newman after serving as dean of graduate studies for Shepherd University in West Virginia, an institution of approximately 4,000 students. Prior to that he was chair of the English 
and Modern Languages Department and an assistant professor of English at Shepherd. He has also published two books, Reading the World: Ideas that Matter, and A Voice in the Wilderness: Conversations with Terry Tempest Williams, as well as numerous articles and chapters for various academic works.
Austin earned a doctorate in English Literature from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1997. He earned both his master’s degree in English with an emphasis in Rhetoric and Composition and his bachelor’s degree in English from Brigham Young University in 1992 and 1990, respectively. Austin and his wife Karen have a 9-year-old son, Porter, and a 6-year-old daughter, Clarissa.
A welcoming reception for Dr. Austin will be held at 10 a.m. in the Heritage Room on Monday, June 2. Welcome Dr. Austin!
