Provost appoints Haley Oliver interim vice provost for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars

Provost Patrick Wolfe announced Monday (May 6) that he has appointed Haley Oliver as interim vice provost for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, effective July 1. In this role, Oliver will lead the ongoing work toward graduate student success that was initiated under Provost Wolfe and (acting) Associate Provost Eric Barker. Barker will take on the role of vice president for health affairs as of July 1.

The Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars was approved by the Board of Trustees on April 5 to better support graduate and professional programs at the department, college and university levels, where Purdue’s commitment for advanced degrees remains focused on student success. More resources will continue to be devoted to students, and processes will be streamlined to ease student life as graduate programs at Purdue grow.

Purdue offers over 70 departmental and interdisciplinary graduate programs, including degree, nondegree and certificate programs. Each program offers research or study areas, which provide a total of over 600 options. 

Oliver, professor of food science in Purdue’s College of Agriculture, currently serves as director of Purdue’s Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Safety and as assistant dean of ag online programs. She also is a senior research fellow at the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue and a Showalter Faculty Scholar. Oliver has received the USDA and Association of Public and Land-grant Universities John Morrill Award, the USDA Food and Agriculture Science Excellence in Teaching Award, and, from Purdue, the Corinne Alexander Spirit of the Land-Grant Mission Award and the Charles B. Murphy Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award.