Kansas State University has named a new provost and executive vice president, following a nationwide search.
The university announced Thursday that current Texas Tech University College of Education Dean Jesse Perez Mendez will assume those duties on or before June 1.
Mendez will provide strategic oversight of academic planning, resource allocation and innovation in all academic programs and will focus on the quality of teaching and learning, among other duties. Mendez has been in his current role since 2019 and prior to joining Texas Tech and has additionally held administrative and professor positions at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis School of Education, the University of Central Florida and Oklahoma State University.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and history from Midwestern State and a master’s in political science from Texas Tech, as well a juris doctorate from the Maurer School of Law and a doctorate in higher education and student affairs, both from Indiana University. He was named an American Council on Education Fellow in 2015 and served a term as a member-at-large of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education Board of Directors.
Mendez succeeds Charles Taber, who announced his retirement last summer. Debbie Mercer will serve as interim provost beginning January 7 until Mendez’s appointment begins.
