Hendrix College names new vice president and provost

Hendrix College has named Teresa A. Garrett as executive vice president of academic affairs and provost.

Garrett, who will start July 1, is coming to Hendrix from Sweet Briar College in Virginia, where she has been vice president for academic affairs, dean of the college and professor in the chemistry department.

A provost at a college or university is generally considered the second-highest campus official. Hendrix College President

selected Garrett after a national search that involved the Washington, D.C.-based Academic Search recruiting firm and a Hendrix committee of faculty, staff, alumni and a student representative. Ann Die Hasselmo, a former Hendrix president, is a senior advisor at the Academic Search recruiting firm.

“As an accomplished scholar, teacher and leader, she will add tremendous value to our leadership team and to our work in Academic Affairs as we plan for the future of the College,” Petersen said in a statement.

Sasha Pfau, a Hendrix College history professor who co-chaired the search committee, cited Garrett’s experience at Sweet Briar, a private women’s college about 164 miles from Washington, D.C.

The liberal arts college has an enrollment of 457 students. Hendrix, a private liberal arts college in Conway, has 1,107 students, according to the state Division of Higher Education.

“She comes to us with extensive experience as a faculty member and administrator at small, residential liberal arts colleges,” Pfau said in a news release. “At Sweet Briar, her role as Vice President of Academic Affairs included oversight of Student Affairs, so she brings important knowledge and expertise that will help us holistically integrate those pieces of the student experience.”

At Sweet Briar, Garrett worked with others to revise 17 academic programs and develop a new leadership in sustainable agriculture certificate program.

She led the development of a summer arts retreat and the integration of the college’s greenhouse into the academic program, with community-supported agriculture and a farmer’s market.

And she worked with Sweet Briar’s alumni, development and enrollment teams in fundraising and student recruitment.

Before she worked at Sweet Briar, Garrett was a chemistry professor and associate dean of faculty at Vassar College, a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Garrett has a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry from Florida State University and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Duke University, where she also taught as an assistant research professor.

She replaces Hendrix Interim Provost David Sutherland, who is retiring at the end of the academic year after 32 years at Hendrix.