College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Montserrat Fuentes is the new Provost for the University of Iowa
Friday, March 8, 2019 - 12:00am
From the UI:
“In a field of very strong candidates, the search committee was impressed by Dean Fuentes’ extraordinary combination of talents,” says Mangum. “She is a razor-sharp researcher and scholar who is also passionate about students. She is a warm and generous listener who has a stellar track record of inspiring her colleagues to work with her to turn good ideas into action. She values both disciplinary expertise and cross-disciplinary collaboration. And she sees diversity, equity, and inclusion as the best path to the future. I, personally, am thrilled that I’ll have the opportunity to work with her in the coming years.”
From the President of the University:
Dear Members of the University Community:
I am excited to share with you the news that Montserrat (Montse) Fuentes has accepted our offer to become the next executive vice president and provost at the University of Iowa. Pending Board of Regents approval, she will join our campus June 28.
As you know, the provost position is incredibly important to the academic leadership of the university, and I am delighted that we have found such a talented, experienced, enthusiastic, and innovative leader in Montse Fuentes. Coming to us as dean of the Virginia Commonwealth University College of Humanities and Sciences, she will bring to the UI a record of impressive accomplishment in her field of statistics and significant administrative experience at VCU, North Carolina State University, and the Research Network for Statistical Methods in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (STATMOS). With her additional background in music, Provost Fuentes will also bring an important understanding of interdisciplinary perspectives. As well, her dedication to student success and student opportunities is informed by her own experience as a first-generation college student.
I invite you to learn more about Montse Fuentes’s background from the Iowa Now story. I would also like to thank our search committee, chaired by Gail Agrawal and Teresa Mangum, for their tremendous work in bringing excellent candidates to campus, as well as all who participated in the search process. In addition, I express my deep appreciation to all the candidates for their interest in the University of Iowa. I also thank Sue Curry for her amazing leadership as our interim executive vice president and provost for the past two years.
Montse Fuentes will bring new vision and energy to the University of Iowa, and I look forward to the exciting directions our academic life will take under her leadership. Please welcome our new provost when you encounter her on campus in the coming months.
Bruce Harreld
President
Education
National Center for Atmospheric Research Postdoc 1999 Environmental Sciences
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL Ph.D. 1998 Statistics
University of Valladolid, Spain B.S. 1994 Mathematics and Statistics (Extraordinary award of Graduation)
University of Valladolid, Spain B.S. 1994 Music and Piano