Goucher College announces new provost

Elaine Meyer-Lee, Ed.D., has been named Goucher College's next senior vice president and provost.

Meyer-Lee currently serves as the associate vice president for global learning and leadership development and as a professor of psychology at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia. She has been a senior academic administrator and international/intercultural leadership, diversity, and inclusion educator for 18 years. Since earning her doctorate in human development and psychology from Harvard in 1999, she has researched college student development within the context of intercultural higher education at multiple institutions and taught courses in global studies, intercultural studies, leadership, and psychology.

“Dr. Meyer-Lee has proven herself to be a visionary and dynamic leader in her current role, and we are looking forward to her joining the Goucher community in an academic leadership role as we strengthen our commitment to global education, social justice, and innovation,” said Kent Devereaux, Goucher College president. “She will be a wonderful fit for our institution.”

In accepting this role, Meyer-Lee said, “I am so impressed with the creative work of the Goucher faculty and inspired by President Devereaux’s articulation of Goucher’s enduring strengths in social justice, global learning, and innovation. Those values are central to my own personal and professional commitments during my three decades in academia. They are also exactly what liberal arts education is best positioned to foster, and what prepares graduates who possess the humane dispositions and abilities that are ever more crucial in this age of automation. I am therefore delighted to be joining Goucher at this moment to help the academic division implement and refine the exciting Goucher Commons curriculum, launch new programs, and grow a thriving and diverse intellectual community.”

In her new role, Meyer-Lee will oversee the Goucher Commons curriculum, which creates shared learning experiences to best prepare students for jobs of the future. Students engage in problem-based learning across disciplines with two complex-problem exploration courses that explore a variety of topics. Race, power, and perspective, and environmental sustainability are two areas of inquiry students pursue across their learning. In addition, there are numerous hands-on learning components integrated throughout the Goucher Commons, including community-based learning, research with faculty, internships, and study abroad.