An academic leader with nearly three decades of classroom and administrative success will be Salisbury University’s next Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs when Laurie Couch steps into the position on June 30.

Coming to Salisbury from Morehead State University in Kentucky, she will oversee faculty, research, study abroad/away and other components of SU’s academic mission following a national search.

“Dr. Couch has a demonstrated record of working closely with faculty, staff and students to ensure the best academic experience possible,” said SU President Carolyn Ringer Lepre. “Her background in teaching, research, enrollment, retention, strategic planning, course design and grant writing, along with her commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, undergraduate research and student success, make her an ideal addition to Salisbury.”

“I am committed to the ideals of Salisbury University and the forward-looking, transparent approach SU is taking toward its vision of planning for student success in all aspects of University work,” said Couch. “I am eager and ready to take the next step with Salisbury.”

At SU, Couch will oversee academic policy and budgeting, curriculum, faculty development, student advising and support, enrollment and retention, assessment, instructional technology and accreditation, as well as university outreach to such entities as Delmarva Public Media.

As Associate Provost for undergraduate education and student success at Morehead State since 2016, her accomplishments have included increasing first-to-second-year student retention, supplemental instruction use and graduation rates while reducing the time students take to earn their degrees.

She also launched new undergraduate and graduate programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, increased winter term course offerings by 350 percent and enrollment by more than 150 percent, and successfully pursued articulation agreements with several colleges and universities.

In addition, she has supported campus diversity, equity and inclusion by sponsoring inclusive teaching workshops for faculty, instituting cultural competency training for all first-year students, reducing equity gaps for underrepresented minority student retention, and hiring diverse leaders into key roles.

Couch joined Morehead State in 1997. Previously, she held teaching positions at the University of Tennessee and at Fort Hays State University in Kansas.

Her academic background includes over 100 publications and conference presentations, as well as more than $400,000 in research and program grants.

Couch earned her master’s and doctorate in Experimental Psychology from the University of Tennessee.