Woodworth-Ney named ISU Vice President & Provost

The State Board of Education has approved creation of a new position in the Idaho State University administration.

Dr. Laura Woodworth-Ney will become a combined executive vice-president and provost of the school. She has been serving as Vice President of Academic Affairs. Woodworth-Ney will continue to serve as ISU’s provost and senior academic advisor to the president. She will assume the new position August 14.

Woodworth-Ney began at ISU in 1999 in the Department of History. She later served as the chair of the Department of History, the co-director of Women’s Studies, ISU’s associate vice president for academic affairs, and as the provost and vice president for academic affairs since June 24, 2013.

The reorganization allows President Arthur C. Vailas to focus on the University’s strategic goals while Woodworth-Ney will manage the day-to-day academic operations of the University.

Vailas will also focus on growing partnerships with the Idaho National Laboratory, medical education opportunities through the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine, expansion of other programs and initiatives and closely working with government, community and business leaders.

Under this organizational framework, the vice president of advancement, the athletic director, the general counsel, the internal auditor and the executive vice president and provost will report directly to Vailas. The chief financial officer and vice presidents of student affairs, research, and health sciences will have a dual reporting responsibility to Woodworth-Ney and Vailas.

The state board believes the realignment will help ISU leadership prioritize its resources to fully support student learning outcomes.

“This change in ISU’s executive leadership structure, which we’ve been working on for more than a year, will allow me to focus greater attention on ISU’s strategic objectives and mission fulfillment and is in line with our institutional effectiveness efforts,” Vailas said. “It is a model similar to those in place at other universities across the country, including the University of Idaho, and Laura Woodworth-Ney is the perfect person for the job.”

Woodworth-Ney responded to the board’s decision to transition her into the new position, “I am honored to continue to serve ISU in this new capacity, and to support ISU’s amazing faculty and staff, whose ongoing work provides unparalleled opportunity to our communities throughout Idaho and the region.”