Rice University Provost Office Records, David Auston

The Provost is the chief academic officer of the University. The mission of the Provost’s Office is to promote and support excellence in all dimensions of the University's academic, research, scholarly and creative programs and activities. The Provost works with the University’s deans, as well as a team of Vice and Associate Provosts in fulfilling the academic leadership and administrative roles of the University and Provost’s Office. The Provost is a member of the University’s major planning and academic committees, including the Strategic Planning and Budget Priorities Committee, and serves ex officio as a member of the Faculty Senate.

The Provost – on the advice of deans, the faculties of the academic units, and the University Promotion and Tenure Committee, which the Provost chairs – makes recommendations on all faculty appointments, promotions and tenure to the President, subject to ultimate ratification by the Board of Trustees.

David Auston was named provost by university president Malcolm Gillis in August 1994. He was Columbia University's Dean of Engineering and Applied Science and the Morris and Alma Schapiro Professor of Engineering. He was member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. He earned his undergraduate and master's degree from the University of Toronto and his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.

Excerpted from Rice University News Release, May 19, 1994 and Provost website http://www.professor.rice.edu/professor/Office_of_the_Provost.asp accessed May 10, 2010.