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New Provost Appointed at Simmons College

Speech-Language Expert & Academic Leader to Begin July 1

BOSTON (March 31, 2009) — A noted expert in the field of speech-language pathology, Dr. Charlena M. Seymour recently was named provost and chief academic officer at Simmons College. Dr. Seymour will begin her tenure at Simmons July 1. The appointment was announced to the Simmons community last week by Simmons President Helen Drinan.

Dr. Seymour will oversee Simmons's academic deans and faculties, including the undergraduate women's college, the four coeducational graduate programs, and the MBA program designed for women. Dr. Seymour will manage the offices of student life, sponsored programs, registrar, and the Simmons Library. Additionally, she will coordinate the faculty promotion and tenure process.

"I am very excited and honored to be able to serve as provost of Simmons College," said Dr. Seymour. "I look forward to working with President Drinan, her leadership team, faculty, staff, and students."

Prior to her appointment at Simmons, Dr. Seymour was provost and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, a position she held since 2004. Dr. Seymour's academic career spans more than 30 years, including a substantial tenure at the University of Massachusetts where she has held positions such as professor, director of the Communications Disorders Clinic, chair of the Department of Communications Disorders, and dean of the graduate school.

Dr. Seymour has published extensively in many academic journals and is the co-editor of Introduction to Communication Disorders: A Multicultural Approach, which won the Will Solimene Award of Excellence in Medical Communication in 1998. A fellow of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA), Dr. Seymour also served as president of ASHA in 1997 and received the organization's honors award in 2007. She has been appointed to many boards, including the Medical Knowledge Institute, the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, the Hello Friend/Ennis William Cosby Foundation, the Western Massachusetts Women's Foundation, and the Amherst Ballet Theatre Company.

Dr. Seymour earned a Ph.D and an M.A. in speech and hearing science from The Ohio State University, and a B.F.A. in theatre arts from Howard University.

Simmons College is a nationally recognized private university located in the heart of Boston. It offers an undergraduate education for women, and renowned coeducational graduate programs in health sciences, education, liberal arts, social work, library and information science, and communications management, as well as the nation's first MBA program designed specifically for women.