A media release from University Spokesperson Bethanie Glover Thursday announced that the new search for the University's permanent executive vice president and provost began Monday. This is the University’s third search for the next permanent provost, and the release said the goal is to select a provost by the end of the calendar year.
The provost serves as the University’s chief academic officer, overseeing its academic operations, faculty affairs and research activities. Brie Gertler has served as interim EVP and provost since March 2025, when former EVP and Provost Ian Baucom departed the University to be president of Middlebury College. According to Glover, Gertler will remain in the interim role until the search that launched Monday is complete.
Gregory Fairchild, dean and chief executive officer of U.Va. Northern Virginia, will serve as chair of a reconstituted search committee, and the committee will conduct a global search supported by the U.Va. Executive Search Group, according to the release. Glover explained that the ESG is an “internal executive search firm.” It is composed of 10 senior search consultants, recruiting associates and other staff “dedicated to identifying and attracting leaders to the University,” Glover noted.
Glover added that there are no University faculty part of ESG but that there will be faculty part of the reconstituted search committee, once the remainder of committee members are announced in early August.
Fairchild graduated with a bachelors from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1988, an MBA from the Darden School of Business in 1992 and a Ph.D. in management of organizations from Columbia University in 2002. He has worked for the University for over 25 years, beginning as an assistant professor of Business Administration at Darden in 2000. In 2016, Fairchild started as an academic director of Public Policy and Entrepreneurship and the associate dean for Washington, D.C. area initiatives. He has been the dean and CEO of U.Va. Northern Virginia since 2021.
Commenting on his gratitude for chairing the search committee in Thursday’s release, Fairchild noted he joins the search for the next provost in an “extraordinary moment” for the University because it is on the brink of forming the next strategic plan. University President Scott Beardsley named members to the strategic planning committee July 13 who will work to design the University’s next plan. The 2030 Plan — created by Jim Ryan, former University president and School of Law professor, and the then-planning committee — is near completion.
“We are on the precipice of shaping a bold new strategic plan, and the person who steps into this role will have a rare opportunity to help define U.Va.'s academic future for the next generation, alongside an incredible faculty and a community deeply committed to excellence,” Fairchild said.
Monday marked the start of the University’s third search for the next permanent provost. Baucom announced his resignation in January 2025, and the first search launched Feb. 6, 2025. This search — which held its final meeting in May 2025 — failed for unclear reasons, but sources told The Cavalier Daily that then-Board of Visitors member Porter Wilkinson played an “unusual” role in the search process, implicitly vetoing one of the final candidates.
The second search launched in September, but Beardsley and Board Rector Carlos Brown paused the search in March. Beardsley cited University leadership changes and shifts in the search committee’s composition as the reason for halting the search. Between September and March, the Board appointed Beardsley as president and Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) requested the resignations of five Board members and appointed 10 new members.
Beardsley chaired the second provost search committee when the search began in September. In January — when he assumed office as president — he stepped down as chair, and Stephanie Rowley, William R. Kenan Jr. Education professor and dean of the School of Education and Human Development, took over the position. At the time the search halted in March, it is unclear how much progress the committee had made at finding the next permanent provost. However, Beardsley said in March’s media release that the second search committee received “a strong pool of candidates” and that he hoped they would apply again during the third search.
In Thursday’s media release, Beardsley commented on the type of “visionary leader” the University hopes to hire to fill the position.
“The provost is core to all that happens on our Grounds, in our classrooms, labs and through digital and global learning,” Beardsley said. “We are looking for a collaborative, visionary leader to guide academic and research excellence, bolster faculty distinction and awareness of their life-changing discoveries, and to build on U.Va.’s exceptional and accessible student experience.”
Individuals are invited to nominate provost candidates via a form on the Executive Search Group website.
Lauren Seeliger is a news editor of the 137th term and enjoys covering U.Va. Health and University governance. Lauren is a fourth-year Behavioral Neuroscience student from Fairfield, Connecticut.
Read More
Gregory Perryman reflects on term as Board of Visitors student representative
By Abigail Larkin | 53 minutes agoPerryman expressed his belief that it was particularly important, given the administrative changes, to consistently make students’ concerns known to the Board.
From the Archives: 1980s
By Cassie Nokes and Maisy Callahan | 22 hours agoThe University’s Gay Student Union invited members of the LGBTQ+ community and supporters to wear jeans to class for Blue Jeans Day, the kickoff to the annual Gay Acceptance Week.
Andrus Ashoo named interim director of Think Again U.Va.
By Lucia Gambacini | 2 days agoMary Kate Cary, the program’s founder and former director, announced via email June 30 that she would be departing for the University of Denver and that Ashoo would take over as interim director, effective immediately.
