This Featured Gig installment comes with two firsts. This is my first provost and chief academic innovation officer opportunity, this one at Alliant University. And this is the first time that the person answering my standard four questions is the institution’s president and CEO, Andy Vaughn.
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Q: What is the university’s mandate behind this role? How does it help align with and advance the university’s strategic priorities?
A: Alliant University’s mandate behind this role of provost and chief academic innovation officer is a forward-looking initiative, as higher education in the United States is set to undergo more significant changes than ever in our sector’s 200-plus-year history, driven by developments in legislation, regulatory shifts and evolving market demands.
Alliant’s strategic priorities include an innovative approach to the delivery of education and working with accreditors to advance innovation in everything that we do. We know that academic quality can be maintained or improved as we embrace new tools, new thoughts, new technologies and new ideas. Innovation is not always technology-centered, and sometimes it is actually ideas or better ways of doing something. Alliant’s provost will lead in faculty development, accreditation, curriculum, policy and related areas. The provost will also align education with emerging ideas and innovations, particularly in online and hybrid course design and technology, and connect academia with industry.
In addition, I was nominated and selected as a federal negotiator in 2025 for the U.S. Department of Education RISE Committee, the committee that was charged with taking the legislation from the One Big Beautiful Bill [Act] and moving it into over 16 new higher education regulations. Being in Washington, D.C., for much of 2025 allowed me to experience firsthand what changes are coming to higher education through the legislative and regulatory process.
It was exciting to meet all of the people behind the changes, including congressional staff members, some elected members of Congress as well as the Department of Education leadership team and staff. The way these changes were facilitated and executed means that their impact is long-term, not short-term, and universities need to embrace a new day of higher education. The provost role at the university is one of the most traditional roles in our sector. We certainly embrace and recognize that, yet at the same time, we need someone to be able to look forward and understand where higher education is going, not just where it’s been.
Q: Where does the role sit within the university structure? How will the person in this role engage with other units and leaders across campus? Is the role in person, hybrid or remote eligible?
A: The provost and chief academic innovation officer at Alliant University reports directly to the president and CEO and will sit on the executive leadership team. This person will engage directly with other executive leadership team members, the Board of Trustees, the Faculty Senate, program directors and the entire Alliant faculty, including over 200 full-time core faculty.
Alliant is headquartered at our 20-acre San Diego campus in Scripps Ranch, where we have been since the 1950s, and has seven physical campus locations and a large online presence with over 5,000 students. Alliant is unique in that we are a professional practice, mostly graduate-level university where 90 percent of our student body is enrolled in programs that lead to state licensure. Alliant is one of the largest national providers of licensed clinical psychologists in the entire United States. About 10 percent of the national supply of licensed psychologists come from our California School of Professional Psychology.
In the state of California, we are one of the largest providers of licensed K–12 teachers and administrators, school counselors and school psychologists. And we recently launched the Alliant School of Nursing and Health Sciences, based in Phoenix, where we have two nursing pre-licensure programs, and in San Diego an occupational therapy master’s degree licensure program that just started a few months ago. This is an exciting time to be a provost, but more importantly, an exciting time to find a leader who embraces the academic rigor and excellence that make Alliant a great university with high-level student outcomes.
This role can be based either at the San Diego campus or Phoenix campus. Typically three to four days on-site and one or two days per week remote/hybrid.
Q: What would success look like in one year? Three years? Beyond?
A: Success in year one means continuing high student success rates, including retention, completion and licensure pass rates, and, importantly, establishing professional relationships and trust with the faculty, students, staff and administration of the university. Even in the age of AI and innovation, relationships matter the most, and success in year one is establishing strong, bonded relationships with all parties involved in the Alliant community.
Values matter, and the Alliant IMPACT values, which provide a framework for how we behave and treat other Alliant community members, are as important as a strong skill set, background and credentials. Values alignment with the Alliant culture is key. In addition, creating an innovative vision along with a collaboratively developed and inclusive strategic plan for academic affairs will be one of the most important outcomes in that first year as well.
Success three years and beyond is growth in our academic programs and achieving the vision and goals within the academic affairs strategic plan that was developed in year one. Growth does not just mean enrollment but also means intellectually. Growth also means improving retention, graduation rates and licensure rates. Beyond three years, success means that Alliant has been a proven leader in innovative ways of thinking about how education is delivered while maintaining high-quality student learning outcomes and a quantitative measurement that says success was attained. Alliant would like to be recognized for being an innovative leader in academic affairs.
Q: What kinds of future roles would someone who took this position be prepared for?
A: I would like to think that a future role for this person would be to lead a university as president and CEO eventually, or take on a much larger role at a larger university because of their experience for many years with us.
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