Lily McNair, associate provost of research and professor of psychology at Spelman College in Atlanta, Ga., will become the next provost and vice president for academic affairs at Wagner College in New York City. She will begin her new responsibilities on July 1.
“Here at Wagner, we are delighted that Lily will be joining us as our next provost. She has a strong track record of working collaboratively with colleagues across academic departments to help them develop research opportunities and initiatives,” said Wagner College President Richard Guarasci. “Her superb leadership will continue Wagner's strong focus on student learning, civic engagement and global education.”
Wagner College is best known for its innovative curriculum, the Wagner Plan, which combines a foundation of liberal learning with components of learning by doing and civic engagement. It has been ranked on U.S. News’ list of Up and Coming colleges for each of the past two years, and has been cited for its groundbreaking pedagogy by numerous publications and organizations.
A New Jersey native, McNair has served as professor of psychology on the faculties of the University of Georgia, Spelman College and SUNY New Paltz. She also spent two years at Vassar College as a clinical psychologist.
“I look forward to the opportunities my new role will offer. These are challenging times for higher education, but such times can serve as fertile ground for the emergence of creative, innovative and immensely promising ideas,” said McNair. “I am happy to have this opportunity to contribute.”
A clinical psychologist by training, McNair’s research focuses on the development and evaluation of community-based interventions targeting substance use and early sexual behavior in African-American youth. Her work has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preliminary findings of these longitudinal studies are demonstrating the significant impact of positive parenting practices on children’s outcomes across a variety of domains. McNair is also the co-editor of “Women: Images and Realities, A Multicultural Anthology (4th ed.),” an introductory women’s studies textbook.
McNair received her undergraduate degree in psychology at Princeton University, and her doctorate in psychology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
McNair has served as major professor for over 10 doctoral students in clinical psychology at the University of Georgia, where she was actively involved in both undergraduate and graduate training. She considers her contributions to the education of these junior scholars to be the most rewarding aspect of her career at UGA, where she was actively involved in increasing the numbers of African American graduate students in the Department of Psychology.
In her position at Spelman, McNair was responsible for providing leadership for the cultivation of research capabilities at the college. This includes strengthening the infrastructure of policies and procedures related to faculty involvement in research, and developing a coordinated system to improve efficiency in the use of research resources.
For more information about Lily McNair's work at Spelman College, CLICK HERE.
Lily McNair will be next provost
April 20, 2011
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