Lander University announced today that Dr. Suzanne Ozment, an accomplished and respected educator known throughout the Southeast, has been appointed to serve as the university's interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.
She will begin her duties at Lander on July 1, as the university conducts a nationwide search for a permanent provost.
Ozment will take the reins from Dr. David Mash, who is retiring from his role as vice president and provost in order to rejoin the Lander faculty as associate director of Library Services. Mash has served as a member of the executive cabinet since 2012, providing leadership and supervision for the university's curricular, instructional and research programs.
"Dr. Mash has served Lander and its students with distinction, and I will continue to value his perspective and advice as a colleague in the coming years," said Lander President Richard Cosentino. "Dr. Ozment's experience and expertise will ensure an effective and smooth transition as we conduct a national search for a permanent provost."
Ozment's arrival at Lander is a homecoming of sorts. While she is retiring from her role as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at the University of Montevallo in Alabama, a post she has held since 2012, she previously served as Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Professor of English at the University of South Carolina Aiken. Prior to that, she was Dean of Undergraduate Studies at The Citadel (the first woman to serve as dean for the military institution) and assistant professor of English at Lenoir-Rhyne University.
Additionally, Ozment has been an active member of reaccreditation teams for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges since 1985 and currently serves on its Board of Trustees. She has also served for eight years on the board of the South Carolina Humanities Council, with two years as Board Chair.
She has been invited to serve on numerous National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) panels to review grants for public humanities programs, and has been actively engaged in "Let's Talk About It," a NEH and American Library Association reading and discussion series. In addition to presenting dozens of programs at libraries and civic centers across South Carolina, she was asked to create two theme-based "Let's Talk About It" series for South Carolina and was commissioned by the American Library Association to create four national series.