Kentucky State University hires administrator with broad experience as new provost and vice president of academic affairs

Kentucky State University hires administrator with broad experience as new provost and vice president of academic affairs


After an extensive national search, Kentucky State University recently hired a new provost and vice president for academic affairs. 

Dr. Leroy Hamilton Jr. most recently served as the special assistant to the president at Norfolk State University, an HBCU in Norfolk, Virginia. 

“The selection of Dr. Leroy Hamilton is an ideal match for Kentucky State University and our exceptional students, faculty and staff at this point in our campus trajectory,” President M. Christopher Brown II said. “His wealth of experience, including serving as a professor, an academic dean, as a senior academic affairs officer, and highly respected as an accreditation expert, coupled with his impressive scholarship credentials, will be beneficial to our institution.”

In addition to his role as provost and vice president for academic affairs, Hamilton will also serve as a professor in the School of Education, Human Development, and the Consumer Sciences.

An administrator with broad experience, Hamilton has held positions as interim provost and vice president for academic affairs and vice provost for academic effectiveness. Hamilton has also served as a professor, an academic dean, an executive director of an academic advising unit for a freshman-year experience initiative, and a director of a student-services unit.  

Hamilton has extensive experience with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), the accrediting body for Kentucky State. As the institutional liaison for SACSCOC, Hamilton led Norfolk State through its decennial review.  Hamilton has served as a member on the SACSCOC Ad Hoc Committee on Substantive Change, worked as an SACSCOC peer-evaluator and has conducted student success workshops at SACSCOC annual meetings. In addition, Hamilton has participated in the implementation of a SACSCOC Quality Enhancement Plan.   

In previous roles, Hamilton has served as a liaison to state higher education governing boards, including service as a college and/or university liaison to the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE), the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC), the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV), and the Southern Regional Education Board. 

Hamilton’s student success achievements include pioneering university-wide one-stop student success centers that consolidated enrollment, student services, and a first-year experience office to streamline processes that affect student retention and graduation rates. Hamilton also has had success working with faculty, establishing the Center for Teaching and Learning to encourage and support faculty research and to train faculty in best practices in classroom and remote instruction.  

Hamilton has presented at numerous regional, national and international conferences on developmental education reform, academic program review, curriculum mapping, the role of collegiality in supporting faculty retention and the necessity for campus-wide synergism to retain students and foster their success. Hamilton has also secured more than $3.1 million in external funds to develop student academic support systems. 

Hamilton has membership in numerous professional organizations, including the Golden Key International Honor Society; Kappa Delta Pi, International Honor Society in Education (KDP); Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society; Historically Black College & Universities (HBCU) Faculty Development Network; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); the National Council of Teachers of English, Professional and Organizational Development (POD); The New Chesapeake Men for Progress, Virginia Association of Teachers of English (VATE); SACSCOC Ad Hoc Committee on Substantive Change; and Who's Who Among American Teachers.  In addition, Hamilton is a life member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.