The Provost and Dean of the Faculty is the chief academic officer of the College and is responsible to the President and the Board of Trustees for the following areas of College life: faculty personnel matters, including recruitment and affirmative action, faculty evaluation, and development; the curriculum; the Catalog; Registrar's office; library and computing services; academic grants, internal and external (including the Hackman Scholars Program); academic spaces; the academic calendar; academic and academic support budgets; faculty governance implementation; and the Office of Institutional Research. The Provost also serves as Middle States Association liaison.

The Provost is supported by three associate Deans, the senior associate Dean of the Faculty and Vice Provost for Planning and Institutional Research, the Chief Information Officer and other staff.

Like the President, the Provost serves ex officio on all faculty committees. The Provost chairs the Professional Standards Committee, and either the Provost or the Provost's designee serves on Faculty Council, the Educational Policy Committee, and the Budget Priorities Committee. The Provost also serves on the Academic Investments and the Facilities Planning and Public Safety Committees of the Board of Trustees and on other Trustee committees as requested.

In July, 2006, Dr. Ann Steiner, the Shirley Watkins Steinman Professor of Classics and Associate Dean of the Faculty, became Provost and Dean of the Faculty, succeeding Bruce Pipes upon his retirement at the end of the 2005-06 academic year.