Bloss Named Shenandoah University Provost
Title Change, Effective Sept. 1, Reflects Breadth of Programming Bloss Oversees
Vice President for Academic Affairs Adrienne G. Bloss, Ph.D., has been named the first provost of Shenandoah University, a title which better aligns with her role as the university’s chief academic officer. The change is effective Sept. 1.
“This title change more fully reflects the full breadth and diversity of academic programming overseen by Dr. Bloss,” said Shenandoah University President Tracy Fitzsimmons, Ph.D.
“I’m delighted to take on the role of provost at Shenandoah as we continue to add programs that provide students with educational experiences that are not only innovative, but also remain useful and relevant to students throughout their lives,” Bloss said.
Bloss began her tenure at Shenandoah on July 1, 2013, after having served as associate dean for academic affairs and institutional relations at Roanoke College. While with Roanoke, Bloss connected meaningfully with Shenandoah by completing a prestigious American Council on Education (ACE) Fellowship at the university during the 2010-11 school year.
Expanding Programs
During her time at Shenandoah, she has overseen an expansion of the university’s academic programming to further meet the needs of an evolving society, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
She led efforts to create a variety of graduate programs and certificates in the health professions in partnership with Inova, including master’s programs in public health, pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine, and advanced practice nursing. The Inova Center for Personalized Health also became the new home of the Bernard J. Dunn School of Pharmacy‘s program in Northern Virginia, as part of the Inova agreement.
At the undergraduate level, the university recently added programs in cybersecurity, data science, criminology (in concert with an established program in criminal justice), professional and popular writing, and film studies. The university has also adopted a new General Education curriculum to begin in fall 2019.
Her time here has also seen the establishment of the Shenandoah Center for Immersive Learning, which uses 360 video, and augmented and virtual reality technologies to enhance learning.
She shepherded the development of a new honors program for the College of Arts & Sciences, championed both pre-health profession and interprofessional education efforts, and established the university’s Fulbright program.
She also spearheaded the planning and support necessary to allow 28 students and five faculty/staff members to volunteer for almost a month at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, seeing the trip as an almost peerless learning opportunity.
In the years since she arrived, the university created both the Student Project & Research Summit, and the Wine, Cheese & Scholarship Celebration of Faculty Research and Creativity.
Bloss’s academic background is in computer science and mathematics, and prior to her time at Roanoke College, she was an assistant professor of computer science at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She earned her bachelor’s degree in systems engineering from the University of Virginia, master’s and doctoral degrees in computer science from Yale University and, in 2006, completed the Management Development Program at Harvard University.
