Senior Administrators

Provost and Executive Vice President For Academic Affairs

Risa E. Dickson, Ph.D.

Dr. Risa Dickson was named Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs in July 2022.

Dr. Dickson has served in a variety of leadership positions within academic affairs, including vice president for academic planning policy for the University of Hawai‘i System and most recently interim vice president for academic affairs at Palo Alto University. She also served in several leadership roles at California State University, San Bernadino, including associate provost for academic personnel, executive assistant to the president for planning and special projects, and associate dean of the College of Arts and Letters.

Dickson brings a wealth of knowledge in budgetary models to campus during a time when UToledo is moving to an incentive-based budget model that will increase transparency, better strategically allocate resources, and enhance data-informed decision making.

She was a Fellow of the American Council on Education where her studies focused on student recruitment and retention, fundraising and tuition-based budgeting. She also completed the “Becoming a Provost Academy” through the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.

Dickson earned her Ph.D. in interpersonal and organizational communication and master’s degree in communication from the University of Southern California and bachelor’s degree in communication theory from California State University, Northridge.