Mark Brodl Stepping Down as Provost to Teach at Illinois Wesleyan
Sept. 21, 2023
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Mark Brodl, provost and dean of faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University, has announced he will step down as the head of academic affairs effective Dec. 31, 2023, but will remain a Titan as he returns to teaching.
Brodl joined Illinois Wesleyan in July 2017. Throughout his tenure, which encompassed the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Brodl provided leadership for academic programs and initiatives to support the students, faculty and educational experiences offered at IWU. He will move into a faculty position in the biology department.
“Mark Brodl has served in his role with integrity and compassion. He has been an excellent thought partner and has also become a friend,” said President S. Georgia Nugent. “His intention is to take a well-deserved leave and then return, with renewed excitement, to his passion: teaching and research in biology.”
Nugent announced that Associate Dean for Scholarly and Creative Work Abbie Kerr will serve as interim provost for the remainder of the 2023-24 academic year.
Kerr received a bachelor’s degree from Wittenberg University, and a master’s and doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Kerr is a professor of psychology at IWU, having taught general psychology, learning and conditioning, advanced behavioral processes, brain injury and recovery and foundations of learning. She has also served as the director of neuroscience since 2018.
“In addition to her current administrative role, Abbie has substantial experience in university governance, and I am confident that she will be very capable of advancing the initiatives of the academic division,” said Nugent.
Associate Provost Becky Roesner and Associate Dean for Curriculum and Instruction Amy Coles will remain in their current roles, while collaborating closely with the interim provost.
In an announcement shared with campus, Brodl said, “As I look back on my career in academia, the work that has brought me greatest joy has been being a professor in the classroom working with students. So as I approach, inevitably, the age of retirement, I have made a decision to return to the faculty to do what I love most. I look forward to returning to my teaching roots and the opportunity to work with the people of IWU in a role I love deeply.”
Prior to IWU, Brodl was associate vice president for budget and research and the George W. Brackenridge Distinguished Professor of Biology at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from Knox College, a master’s in plant biology from the University of Illinois at Urbana, and a doctorate in plant biology from Washington University in St. Louis. He served as a faculty member and chair of the biology department at Knox before joining Trinity.
He was selected as a Fellow of the Council on Undergraduate Research in 2014 and elected as a Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologists in 2010. He is the recipient of a Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation (1991) and is the recipient of awards for excellence in teaching.
By Julia Perez