President Leo M. Lambert has promoted Steven D. House to the position of provost and executive vice president.
Steven D. House, who has served as Elon University’s provost and vice president for academic affairs since June 2009, has been promoted to the position of provost and executive vice president. As part of his newly titled position, House expands his responsibilities, working directly with Greg Zaiser, vice president for admissions and financial planning, and Dave Blank, director of athletics. Those divisions of the university were previously supervised by Provost Emeritus Gerald Francis, who retired in June as executive vice president.
In announcing the appointment, President Leo M. Lambert said the new title reflects House’s record of accomplishment in the Office of the Provost and in his previous position as dean of Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences. “Dr. House has provided excellent academic leadership for Elon and he has been a wise and effective chair for the university’s budget and planning processes,” Lambert said. “He is a gifted administrator and has been an integral part of developing the university’s national reputation since coming to Elon from Seton Hall University in 2001, when he was named the founding dean of Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences.”
As Elon’s provost, House has been responsible for all academic programs in addition to student life programs, working with Smith Jackson, vice president for student life and dean of students. In his eight years as dean of Elon College, House provided leadership for 17 academic departments and 19 academic programs. The number of Elon College faculty increased by 50 percent during his tenure as dean, and the number of students majoring in the liberal arts and sciences grew from 37 percent of the overall student body to 46 percent. House helped develop the Elon College Fellows Program and collaborated with the Division of Student Life to expand Elon’s living-learning communities.
House worked closely with faculty to develop Elon’s successful application to shelter a Phi Beta Kappa chapter at the university in April 2010. He served on the planning committee that created the Elon Commitment strategic plan, and also oversaw the American Bar Association accreditation process for Elon University School of Law. He also oversaw creation of Elon’s School of Health Sciences. He chairs Elon’s long-range planning committee and the university’s budget committee, developing budget models and presenting options to the board of trustees.
House earned his bachelor of science degree in biology in 1977 from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. He completed his doctorate in physiology with honors at the University of Arizona and attended Columbia University as a postdoctoral fellow in physiology and cellular biophysics. At Seton Hall University he taught courses in biology, physiology, pharmacology and anatomy. He served as director of health professions and later as associate dean of Seton Hall’s College of Arts and Sciences. He received a major National Institute of Health research award on microvascular cell dynamics, a visiting expert award from the Academia Sinica in Taiwan, Republic of China, and both the Grega-Zacharkow Young Investigator Award and the Travel Award for Outstanding Young Investigators from the Microcirculatory Society.