Dianna Shandy, who most recently served as the provost and vice president of academic affairs at Augustana College, has been appointed Kenyon’s next provost. She will start as the College’s top academic officer beginning Aug. 1.
A first-generation college student originally from rural Kansas, Shandy has devoted her career to the transformational power of the liberal arts.
“Dianna has a long history of working across disciplines to support — and empower — faculty and students,” said President Julie Kornfeld, who co-led Kenyon’s search committee. “She is a skilled collaborator, full of vision and compassion, who is grounded in the core values that define Kenyon and the liberal arts. All of this makes her well suited as a partner in readying our students for lives of purpose and consequence.”
At Augustana, a liberal arts institution in Illinois that Shandy joined in 2023, she oversaw all academic programs and faculty affairs. Initiatives she worked on included faculty-led curricular renewal; redesign of the first-year experience and advising structures; and strengthening student success initiatives.
Trained as an anthropologist at Columbia University, she previously held positions of increasing responsibility at Macalester College in Minnesota, where she spent more than two decades and concluded as associate provost for strategic initiatives. Other roles there included serving as the inaugural (interim) dean of the faculty and associate dean of the Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship.
Shandy said she has always been drawn to institutions where rigorous intellectual life is paired with strong mentorship, vibrant residential communities, and a sense of shared purpose.
“I am honored to join the Kenyon community as provost,” she said. “Throughout the search process, I was struck by the intellectual vitality of the faculty, the genuine care for students, and the thoughtful, candid conversations about both Kenyon’s many strengths and the opportunities ahead. I look forward to partnering with faculty, staff, students, fellow Cabinet members, and President Kornfeld to build on Kenyon’s remarkable tradition while helping the College navigate a rapidly changing landscape for higher education.”
Shandy will succeed Jeff Bowman, the College’s provost since 2020, who served as interim president from July 2022 to October 2023.
The national search for Bowman’s successor was co-chaired by Kornfeld and Aaron Reinhard, professor of physics. The committee included 13 other members drawn from the ranks of faculty, staff and the board of trustees and was assisted by the executive search firm Opus Partners.
“We had a strong candidate pool, but Dianna Shandy distinguished herself as an ideal fit with the Kenyon ethos,” Reinhard said. “Her commitment to the liberal arts shone through in every interaction. The committee believes she has the experience and vision to lead us through this challenging time in higher education. Her personal characteristics suggest she will lead with empathy and conviction.”
Shandy has a Bachelor of Science in languages from Georgetown University, with certificates in African studies and Russian area studies. She has a Master of Arts in anthropology and education and a doctorate in anthropology, all from Columbia.
Her scholarly work has focused on migration and diaspora, gender, qualitative research methods and the teaching of anthropology. She is the author or editor of nine books and edited volumes, including “Conformity and Conflict: Readings in Cultural Anthropology.”
Shandy has served as an American Council on Education Fellow at Elon University and is on the finance committee for the American Anthropological Association. At Macalester, she received the Trustee’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research and Service.