Meet the Provost
Nicolle Parsons-Pollard, Ph.D.
Nicolle Parsons-Pollard, Ph.D. was appointed by Georgia State President M. Brian Blake as Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs effective Feb. 1, 2023.
She served as interim provost in 2022. Prior to her appointment in this leadership role, she was appointed in 2020 as Georgia State’s Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs.
As Provost, Dr. Parsons-Pollard serves as the university’s chief academic officer. Her portfolio includes the development and implementation of the university’s academic programs and policies, supervision of deans and associate provosts, and direction for international initiatives and study abroad, graduate policy and programming, institutional effectiveness (institutional research and reporting), strategic planning, and assessment of learning outcomes and academic programs. Additionally, she directs activities in the recruitment, hiring, retention and promotion processes for faculty positions.
Under President Blake’s visioning process for the next university strategic plan, Dr. Parsons-Pollard has been responsible for one of the key pillars that will form the foundation of the next plan – identity and placemaking.
Since arriving at Georgia State, she has created, implemented and championed a variety of faculty development programs to support and strengthen faculty in teaching and research, as well as leadership programming for department chairs and other administrators. She has also developed and implemented faculty policies and procedures, managed university awards and recognition events for faculty, and assisted with the promotion and tenure process.
Additionally, Dr. Parsons-Pollard has served as a key member of a leadership team which has tackled some of the most critical issues in diversity, equity and inclusion, including service on the Task Force for Racial Equality in 2020, as well as a key point person for the university’s action plan to address the task force’s recommendations. (You can read more about the task force at this link, and more about the university’s action plan here.)
She has also provided leadership in Georgia State’s multi-year improvement cycle through the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) Faculty Satisfaction process, which aims to improve the academic workplace, and increase retention and engagement of university faculty. (Read more about COACHE here.)
Dr. Parsons-Pollard also has oversight of the Implementation Steering Committee of the Next Generation of Faculty initiative, which has also brought truly impactful measures to bear for the diversification of faculty in recruitment, retention and engagement. (Read more about the Next Generation of Faculty initiative here.)
In her previous role as Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs at Monmouth University (New Jersey), she provided leadership to ensure the integrity and quality of academic programs with an emphasis on student success. She also oversaw the university’s promotion, tenure, and continuance process as well as developing university-wide initiatives to attract and retain a highly qualified and diverse faculty. She served as the inaugural chair of the President’s Advisory Council on Diversity and Inclusion, which paved the way to the construction of a permanent interactive exhibit honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech on campus in October of 1966 and established the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Distinguished Speaker on Social Justice series.
Dr. Parsons-Pollard has served as Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Operations at Virginia State University and completed the American Council on Education (ACE) Fellows Program in 2014-2015.
Dr. Parsons-Pollard’s academic field of interest is in criminal justice, and she holds an appointment as Professor of Criminal Justice in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State. Her research and scholarship has focused on program evaluation, juvenile justice, and disproportionate minority contact by the criminal justice system.
She earned her Ph.D. from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in public policy and administration, as well as a master’s degree in criminal justice and a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from VCU.