The Provost is the Chief Academic Officer. She enacts the mission of her Office by overseeing the academic affairs division. This includes the faculty, the curriculum and all the various academic affairs offices. The Provost works collaboratively within and outside academic affairs to promote, enrich and support a student-centered liberal arts experience based on an innovative and integrative education.
Touba Ghadessi
Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs
Touba Ghadessi is a scholar of early modern history of art and anatomy who has published on the examination of difference, expressed through human monsters. Her more recent research explores alternate bodies and their implications for ruling epistemologies.
To pursue her scholarly interests, Ghadessi has been awarded publication grants and awards to study at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (Paris), to conduct archival research in Paris, Florence, and Rome, and to participate in the Centre national de la recherche scientifique’s sponsored seminars in Paris.
Before becoming Provost, Ghadessi was Associate Provost for Academic Administration and Faculty Affairs, during which term she worked on internal operations and external engagements, on supporting plural avenues of research, and on delineating strategic expansion of institutional reach.
Among her many leadership roles off-campus, Ghadessi has served on the board of directors as chair of the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, on the board of the Providence Athenaeum, was part of the founding members of the New England Humanities Consortium, and is currently on the Executive Committee for the Faculty of Color Working Group.
The intentionality that frames Ghadessi’s leadership comes with purposeful questioning and is one reflected in Wheaton College’s motto. Founded in 1834 on the principle that every woman “may have life and may have it abundantly,” the institution today, elevates this proposition by confronting its flaws and by working to bring not only equity and justice, but also abundance to all its students. With this aim, Ghadessi deploys thoughtful action to support the belief that knowledge is the most valuable commodity we have and that we must share it generously.
Office of the Provost
26 East Main Street
Park Hall
Wheaton College
Norton, MA 02766-2322
Email: provost@wheatoncollege.edu
Telephone: 508-286-8212