Northeastern President Joseph E. Aoun appointed Beth Winkelstein as the next provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, according to an email to the university community May 27. Winkelstein, who will be the first woman to serve in the role since the Office of the Provost was created in 1948, will officially assume the position Aug. 22.
Winkelstein’s predecessor, David Madigan, announced in January his intention to step down at the end of June after five years in the role. Winkelstein currently serves as deputy provost and as Eduardo D. Glandt President’s Distinguished Professor of bioengineering and neurosurgery at her undergraduate alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania.
Executive Vice Provost Tom Sheahan will serve as interim provost from July 1 to Aug. 22.
“Beth emerged as the strongest candidate from a diverse, international pool of talented academic leaders,” Aoun wrote in the May 27 email. “She brings a myriad of talents to Northeastern, including an impressive record of leadership in senior roles; renowned expertise in the field of bioengineering; and an innovative mindset geared toward student outcomes.”
Winkelstein has held a variety of leadership roles while at Penn, including vice provost for education, associate dean for undergraduate education in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and chair of the Graduate Group in Bioengineering. After receiving her doctorate from Duke University in 1999 and completing a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at Dartmouth College, she joined Penn in 2002 as an assistant professor.
“Central to her work was the recruitment and promotion of talent — including leading two dean searches and diversifying the faculty across campus. She led the implementation of campus-wide research initiatives to leverage unrealized strength across various schools and centers,” Aoun wrote. “She also architected and launched Penn First Plus as a hub to enhance the academic experiences of first generation students.”
Throughout her tenure at Penn, Winkelstein has spearheaded several diversity and anti-hate initiatives. Her other titles have included vice chair of Penn’s University Task Force on Antisemitism and member of the Presidential Commission on Countering Hate and Building Community, both created in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks to combat antisemitic and Islamophobic hate, discrimination and bias on campus.
In the email, Aoun said Madigan will remain at Northeastern as a faculty member in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences and as special adviser to the president. Northeastern announced the provost search committee — comprised of 22 Northeastern faculty, staff and students — in February. Sternberg Family Distinguished Professor of Physics Alessandro Vespignani chaired the committee and led the effort to find, evaluate and appoint the new provost.
The role of provost is central to the university’s functioning; the provost oversees Northeastern’s 10 schools and colleges as well as its research centers and libraries. Aoun’s email also states that the provost works collaboratively with the senior vice president for finance, a position currently held by Thomas Nedell, in establishing the university’s budget and financial priorities.
In a May 27 statement, Provost John Jackson described Winkelstein’s departure from the university as “bittersweet,” according to The Daily Pennsylvanian, Penn’s independent student newspaper.
“Her insight, wisdom and deep knowledge of Penn have been invaluable to me personally and to her colleagues across the Provost Center, the Council of Deans and the wider University,” Jackson wrote. “We know that this is an exciting opportunity for her, as we also know that she will be deeply missed at Penn in the years ahead.”
