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Cheryl Nixon announced as new FLC provost
President Tom Stritikus has announced Cheryl Nixon as Fort Lewis College’s new provost.
“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Nixon to Fort Lewis College and look to the future and the important work we have in front of us,” says Stritikus.
Nixon brings a commitment to shared governance and transparency and will work with Academic Affairs leadership to implement student-centered strategies, launch new programs and modify existing ones, and continue to build FLC’s academic reputation. In her current role as Associate Provost at the University of Massachusetts Boston, she has led tenure and promotion reviews, strategic planning implementation, department assessment, and accreditation.
“I am thrilled to be joining the Fort Lewis College community, which is defined by exceptional faculty and staff dedicated to caring, supportive, individualized learning,” says Nixon. “Durango is known for its adventurous lifestyle and I look forward to working with faculty to bring that spirit into the classroom, creating adventurous courses that build adventurous minds.”
As Associate Provost and Professor of English at UMass, Nixon created new undergraduate research programs, high-impact teaching projects, and partnerships with area libraries and non-profit organizations. Nixon’s career has been dedicated to serving diverse student populations. While teaching at UMass Boston, the most diverse university in New England, she designed an experiential learning curriculum that supports the success of diverse students by using the city of Boston as a hands-on classroom.
“FLC’s dedication to access to education for diverse and Native American students is inspirational, and I am honored to serve that mission,” says Nixon. “FLC has unique opportunities to build on its rich history to discover new ways of ensuring the engagement and success of all students.”
Nixon successfully led teams in an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant, which focused on bringing high impact teaching practices to diverse students, and a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, which focused on creating an interdisciplinary curriculum connecting environmental science and the humanities. Nixon also serves as the director of the Office of Global Programs and oversees study abroad and international partnerships.
She currently serves on the Chancellor's Strategic Planning Implementation Group, as an elected Councilor to the National Council for Undergraduate Research (Arts and Humanities Division), and on the Board of Trustee's Special Collections Committee at the Boston Public Library. She oversaw a three-year Fulbright Visiting Scholar program that helped train professors from Iraq in how to bring effective teaching techniques back to the war-torn country.
Nixon earned her bachelor’s in English and political science from Tufts University and her master’s and doctorate in English from Harvard University. Prior to her role as Associate Provost, she served as Chair of the Department of English for five years and English Graduate Program Director for three years. The author of books, articles, and textbooks, her research examines the invention of the novel in the eighteenth century, comparing literature to legal cases featuring family conflict. Her favorite classroom projects include working with students to create an advertisement campaign for the Mayor's Office and working with students to design rare books exhibits for the Boston Public Library.
Nixon will start in her new position as FLC provost on July 1.