New Provost Assumes Duties

Eric Freedman has started his position as executive vice president for academic affairs and provost.

Following a nationwide search, Freedman was selected for the position in January. Since 2016 he served as dean of the School of Media Arts at Columbia College Chicago. In that role, he was a member of the Academic Affairs senior leadership team, assisting the school in college-wide strategic plans while managing academic programs in Chicago and Los Angeles.

Throughout his career Freedman has gained extensive experience in faculty and staff recruitment and retention, academic program development, resource management, fundraising, community engagement and student success, as well as diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. During his tenure at Columbia College Chicago, he worked with development staff to raise more than $2.5 million in undergraduate scholarships, secured partnerships with NBCUniversal Academy, Epic Games, Unity Technologies, LG Electronics and the Chicago Public Schools, and moved forward a number of new undergraduate and graduate programs. He currently serves as a reviewer for the National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship Program, as chair of the Communication and Media Studies Research Network and on several editorial boards.

Freedman began his duties as provost on May 22, taking over from Charles McAdams who filled the position in an interim role while an intensive search was conducted. He has already met with Truman’s deans, the President’s Executive Leadership Team and other unit leaders, faculty and staff, and with President Sue Thomas has taken the lead in advancing the work of the Committee to Consider the Reorganization of Academic Affairs into the next phase of the University’s academic reorganization plan.

After earning his Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University, Freedman received his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California.