Dr. Constance Rogers-Lowery, who has served as Catawba College's Acting Provost since January 1, will become the college's Provost, effective June 1. Rogers-Lowery's appointment was announced by Catawba College President Brien Lewis at the conclusion of a national search to fill the chief academic officer's position.
"Occasionally, you search for potential candidates to fill a key role only to discover that the very best and most dedicated candidate for the job is right at hand. That is the case with Dr. Constance Rogers-Lowery," Lewis said. "She is committed to Catawba College's success and is truly an advocate for and a witness to our institution's ability to transform the lives of its students.
"In the months when she has served as Catawba's acting provost, I have seen her at work consensus-building across all academic areas of the campus. I am so pleased that we can offer this key leadership role to her, and more importantly, that she has accepted that offer."
Formerly Rogers-Lowery had served since May 2016 as Catawba College's Associate Provost for Faculty Development. In that capacity, she had begun work with faculty and staff on development of some key initiatives that would enhance student learning and development. These "Values Proposition" initiatives, to be implemented campus-wide, will expand and enhance Catawba's ability to provide internships and experiential learning, travel opportunities, research and creative works, and service learning.
Rogers-Lowery, who originally accepted the role of Acting Provost at Catawba to give herself an opportunity to glean even more experience in academic administration, joined the Catawba faculty in 2006 as an Assistant Professor of Biology. She was promoted to Associate Professor of Biology in 2012. She chaired the Department of Biology from 2012 until 2016 when she was appointed Associate Provost of Faculty Development.
Between 2012 and 2017, Rogers-Lowery served as director of Catawba's Noyce Scholarship Program, after she successfully authored a $1.45 million grant from the Robert Noyce Scholarship Program of the National Science Foundation to fund it. Scholarships provided through this program helped prepare STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) majors for teaching careers.
Rogers-Lowery was honored by Catawba with the Swink Award for Classroom Teaching in 2014.
Prior to joining the faculty at Catawba, Rogers-Lowery served as a faculty member and Instructor of Biology at the Cabarrus College of Health Sciences in Concord and the Presbyterian School of Nursing in Charlotte. She also was a Research Assistant Professor, completing postdoctoral work at UNC Wilmington.
She earned her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Sciences degrees in Biology from the UNC Charlotte, and her Doctor of Philosophy degree in Biology from Wake Forest University.
