After serving in the role provisionally since August 2022, Justin Schwartz was named Penn State’s permanent executive vice president and provost, effective May 1.

Former provost Nick Jones stepped down from the position in August and Schwartz has been in the role in an interim capacity ever since. A nationwide search for a replacement began in January, but the university announced Schwartz would take over the role in a permanent capacity on April 23.

The former Harold and Inge Marcus Dean of Penn State’s College of Engineering, Schwartz will overtake the provost position and be responsible for all academic units within each college, school, and campus.

“Justin is the right person to lead our academic enterprise to new levels of success, and I am thrilled that he is now a permanent member of the leadership team,” Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi said in a release. “Justin is a forward-thinking, collaborative leader with a proven record of recruiting and retaining talented, diverse faculty and staff, and investing in their development; of facilitating interdisciplinary collaborations that span academic domains; and creating opportunities for student academic, career and life success.

Schwartz has spent 33 years in higher education with roles as an academic administrator, researcher, faculty member, and dean of the College of Engineering. For the eight months Schwartz served as the interim provost, he pushed to improve “recruitment, retention, advancement and sense of belonging of students, faculty and staff from underrepresented groups.” Additionally, Schwartz worked to develop a new university budget allocation model aimed toward the long-term health of the academic enterprise.

“I am humbled and honored to serve this incredible institution as its next executive vice president and provost,” Schwartz said. “Working with Neeli and her leadership team has been a privilege over the last eight months, and the opportunity now to partner with her and our entire community to implement her vision for the University is exciting.”

Before arriving at Penn State in 2017, Schwartz worked as the department head of materials science and engineering at NC State for eight years. Prior to that, he served as the Jack E. Crow Professor of Engineering and senior research advisor to the vice president for research at Florida State beginning in 1993.

“When our students graduate, it is important that they are ready for what they want to do next in life, and that they are recognized for their resilience, intellect, training and skill set,” Schwartz said. “We also want this to be a community of excellent scholars that our faculty and staff are proud to be a part of it; where they feel that their roles and contributions are significant, meaningful and recognized; and their sense of belonging is genuine.”