Patrick Sims was appointed executive vice chancellor and provost at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem. He will begin his new job on August 1.
Professor Sims currently serves as the deputy vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion and the Elzie Higginbottom Vice Provost and chief diversity officer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also the founding director of the Theatre for Cultural and Social Awareness and a professor of theater at the university. Professor Sims joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2004. He was the first African American to move through the tenure and promotion process to achieve the rank of full professor in the department of theater at the university.
“Becoming the UNCSA provost is a professional dream come true,” said Professor Sims. “I am grateful for and humbled by the opportunity to join one of the nation’s top performing arts conservatories at this critical time in history and higher education. The arts have the power to transcend this era of physical and ‘cultural’ distancing, creating catharsis and inciting action and change in ways we haven’t yet imagined.”
Professor Sims is a graduate of Yale University, where he double majored in psychology and theater studies. He holds a master of fine arts degree in theater from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
