Education Dean Jennifer King Rice Named Senior Vice President and Provost

The University of Maryland today named College of Education Dean Jennifer King Rice, who has served the campus for more than 25 years, its senior vice president and provost, effective Aug. 11.

As the second-ranking officer of the university, reporting directly to the president, Rice will lead UMD in its mission to advance academic excellence while promoting social justice, cultural diversity, resource conservation and economic opportunity. As chief academic officer, Rice will provide leadership and oversight for the development and implementation of all academic planning, policies and budgeting; review all academic appointments and make recommendations to the president on all promotion and tenure decisions; and ensure the excellence and diversity of programs, faculty and students.

“It is an honor to be selected as provost at the University of Maryland, a place and community that I love and am proud to serve,” said Rice. “With our president’s overarching commitment to excellence in all that we do, we are seizing a moment of great potential to contribute to our state and broader society in new and innovative ways. I look forward to partnering with stellar academic colleagues and administrators to cultivate a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone has the opportunity to fully participate and succeed.”

Rice, a professor of education policy, has led the College of Education since July 2017. In this role, Rice has focused on aligning educational resources with key initiatives to advance excellence, equity and social justice in preschool through graduate school. She led the college community through an inclusive strategic planning process, which has resulted in new and innovative initiatives to promote its values, vision and goals. Her emphasis on college-level research infrastructure, enhancements in instructional programming and diversity, equity and inclusion have propelled the college forward in reputation and rankings.

“In naming our next provost, I am thrilled to congratulate an esteemed researcher, a strategist, an advocate, a highly respected colleague and a fellow Terp. I am continually impressed and inspired by Dr. Rice’s extraordinary commitment to measurable impact policies and practices, diversity, equity and inclusion, and her many accomplishments as dean,” said Darryll J. Pines, university president. “I am looking forward to the academic future of this university with Dr. Rice as senior vice president and provost.” 

As a national expert in education finance and policy, Rice regularly consults with policy organizations and agencies at the state and federal levels. She has been a National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation postdoctoral fellow and a visiting fellow at the Urban Institute. She is a fellow of the National Education Policy Center and served as president of the Association of Education Finance and Policy. She sits on two charter school boards, is a University System of Maryland representative on the Maryland State Teacher Certification Advisory Council, and recently co-chaired the Association of American Universities Annual Deans meeting. Rice also served as co-chair of the Maryland Education Deans and Directors Council.

A UMD Distinguished Scholar-Teacher awardee, Rice has published numerous articles and book chapters. Her authored and edited books include “Performance-Based Pay for Educators: Assessing the Evidence,” “Fiscal Policy in Urban Education” and “Teacher Quality: Understanding the Effectiveness of Teacher Attributes,” winner of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education book award. She also served on the editorial boards of American Educational Research Journal and Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis and recently completed a term on the editorial board for Education Finance and Policy. 

Prior to joining the faculty at Maryland in 1995, she was a researcher at Mathematica Policy Research. Rice earned her Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in education administration and social foundations from Cornell University. She completed a B.S. in mathematics and English from Marquette University, where she was recently honored with the Professional Achievement Award from the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences.

Rice will take the reins from Ann G. Wylie, professor emerita of geology, who has served as interim senior vice president and provost since January.