Interim provost named at Baylor University

WACO—Elizabeth Davis has been appointed interim provost at Baylor University, Acting President Harold Cunningham announced.

Davis, who has served the provost’s office as vice provost for financial and academic administration since 2004, will assume the duties of Baylor’s chief academic officer. She fills the post previously held by Randall O’Brien , who has been named president of Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tenn.

Cunningham met with various university groups to solicit their recommendations to fill the position.

“While in the process of discussing this interim appointment, Elizabeth Davis was the consensus choice to provide leadership in our academic area during this period of transition,” Cunningham said. “She is a very talented academician and administrator who will keep us moving on our upward trajectory."

As interim provost, Davis will have responsibility for all of Baylor’s academic enterprises, including 11 schools and colleges and more than two dozen centers and institutes.

“I am honored by this appointment and humbled that friends and colleagues in the Baylor family believe that I can be of service to Baylor as interim provost during this important time,” Davis said.

“Randall O’Brien has built an adept team in the provost’s office, and we are well prepared to provide continued leadership in the academic areas of the university.”

Davis earned her bachelor of business administration degree in accounting cum laude from Baylor in 1984, and joined the Baylor faculty in 1992 after completing her doctorate in accounting at Duke University. In addition to her vice provost duties, Davis is professor of accounting in the Hankamer School of Business. She also has served the business school as associate dean for undergraduate business programs.

The recipient of the Hankamer Teaching Excellence Award in spring 2003, Davis taught managerial accounting, with her research focusing on the effect of accounting information on judgment and decision making. She has published in various journals.

As vice provost for financial and academic administration the past four years, Davis has served as a liaison between the provost’s office and Baylor’s academic units, primarily in the areas of financial matters and enrollment management issues. She also has been responsible for coordinating faculty development opportunities offered by the provost.

Davis is a member of the American Accounting Association and American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Davis’s husband, Charles, is chair of the department of accounting and business law. They are members of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco.