5 Questions for Wesleyan’s Dancing Provost

About once a week, a notable higher ed figure stops by the Inside Higher Ed office in Washington, D.C., for some coffee and conversation—presidents and provosts, leaders of national advocacy organizations, research directors, faculty representatives, state commissioners, and board members.

We want to share their insights whenever possible, so we bring you “Five Questions,” which we hope will shed more light on the higher ed landscape and its major players.

This week we welcomed Nicole Stanton, provost and vice president of academic affairs at Wesleyan University. Stanton had an unlikely path to a top administrative role. A first-generation college student from Pittsburgh, she studied dance as an undergrad at Antioch College in Ohio and spent many years performing and choreographing professionally before turning to teaching at Ohio State University. In 2007 she joined Wesleyan, where she spent a decade as a faculty member in the dance, African American studies and environmental studies departments before becoming dean of arts and sciences in 2018.