Tarshia Stanley named new provost and vice president for academic affairs
St. Olaf College President Susan Rundell Singer has announced the appointment of Tarshia Stanley as the college’s new provost and vice president for academic affairs. She will assume the role on July 1 and be responsible for all faculty, staff, and programming within the Academic Affairs division.
Stanley comes to St. Olaf from Wagner College, where she serves as the special assistant to the president for academic affairs and previously served as provost and vice president for academic affairs. At Wagner College, she focused on faculty professional development, strategic planning, civic engagement, and faculty grant writing.
Throughout her career, Stanley has advanced leadership and development for faculty, staff, and students, with an emphasis on supporting those from historically underrepresented backgrounds.
“Tarshia brings a depth and range of experience to St. Olaf. She is a dynamic leader with a deep commitment to the liberal arts and the communities she serves,” says Rundell Singer. “She has the capability to move St. Olaf forward through collaboration and data-informed decision making.”
Stanley’s educational background features an A.B. from Duke University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Florida, all in English. Specializing in speculative fiction, she built her academic career at Spelman College, securing tenure and chairing the English Department. She was awarded an HBCU Mellon Fellowship to complete a project advancing research in the humanities.
“I am a first-generation graduate and the product of teachers who taught me that my education belonged not just to me but to the community. As a result, I have been drawn to institutions whose graduates impact their communities and the world. I have long admired St. Olaf’s reputation for shaping intellectual citizens and solution seekers who lead through complex problems and whose sense of purpose includes the common good.”
— Tarshia Stanley
As Stanley advanced her leadership development, she served as coordinator for the Spelman Walmart Initiative for First-Generation College Student/Walmart Scholars (SWIFS) and as a Career Pathways Initiative Advisor, mentoring faculty developing new career preparation courses. She was appointed by the Spelman College provost to implement a new advising and retention model, followed by being appointed director of the E.W. Githii Honors Program. In 2018 Stanley moved to Minnesota to serve as dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Sciences at St. Catherine University, where she launched an integrated learning series, a Career Readiness in Undergraduate Majors program, and co-founded a BIPOC Women’s Professional Leadership Cohort.
“I am a first-generation graduate and the product of teachers who taught me that my education belonged not just to me but to the community. As a result, I have been drawn to institutions whose graduates impact their communities and the world,” Stanley says. “I have long admired St. Olaf’s reputation for shaping intellectual citizens and solution seekers who lead through complex problems and whose sense of purpose includes the common good.”