Provost's Welcome

Jane K. Fernandes

Provost & Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

At the University of North Carolina Asheville, the Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs is committed to ensuring the success of faculty, students and staff. Our mission is to provide strategic vision, leadership and support for inclusive academic excellence and integrity to further our core focus on exemplary teaching and learning, undergraduate research, scholarship and creative activity, and service to the University and the people of Western North Carolina.

Our Office advances work on the University's strategic themes (Public Responsibility, Liberal Arts and Long-Term Sustainability) by building and fostering a diverse and inclusive campus, providing an interdisciplinary liberal arts education that affords students undergraduate research, community engagement and career development opportunities, and assuring that our campus achieves necessary environmental, social and financial balance.

We champion the lifelong benefits of a liberal arts education, with all the diverse intellectual viewpoints it encompasses, as the best career preparation possible for our citizens.  We support the recruitment, retention and advancement of a diverse and inclusive faculty, staff and student body as an essential dimension of the liberal arts philosophy.

We offer undergraduate degree programs leading to the B.A., B.S., B.F.A., and B.S.E.  Students may chose from 32 majors and 40 minors, including courses preparing for teacher licensure.  In addition to students learning a major in depth at UNC Asheville, they will also learn about the connections among disciplines through our award-winning Integrative Liberal Studies (ILS) program.  An array of academic support programs broaden and enrich the student educational experience including undergraduate research, service learning, community engagement, career development, our Honors program and study abroad.  A university-wide project, known as Inquiry Arc, endeavors to improve and assess our ability to teach and learn critical thinking skills that are essential for 21st century citizenship.

We facilitate access to higher education and affordability through careful academic planning and partnership with faculty, staff, students and programs to provide an exciting, imaginative, and rigorous learning experience for every UNC Asheville student.   

We provide support for faculty promotion and tenure; offer and advocate faculty development opportunities; and foster faculty innovation, achievement and recognition for teaching, scholarship/creative activity and service.

Our current work revolves around leadership for academic priorities; support for excellence in faculty teaching, scholarship/creative activity and service; and development and delivery of a revised student-centered curriculum that prepares graduates with the knowledge, skills and experiences they need to thrive in our increasingly interconnected world.

Please take a look around our website using the menu at right, and feel free to contact me if I can be of assistance.

Jane K. Fernandes
Provost & Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

Office of Academic Affairs

The Office of Academic Affairs is responsible for oversight, management, and accomplishment of the institution's educational mission. To this end, the Office of Academic Affairs works with departments and programs to create and maintain an environment that: