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Rhode Island College selects Tate to serve as Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs

After a national search, Rhode Island College selected Helen Tate, Ph.D., to serve as Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs. She brings 18 years of experience in higher education administration to the senior academic leadership position.

Prior to her appointment, Dr. Tate was Provost and Executive Vice President at Wingate University in North Carolina. During her tenure, she worked with faculty to develop a university-wide shared governance model; secured grant funding for faculty professional development to improve outcomes for underserved students; developed an on-going program review process; and scaled academic services for a 17% increase in enrollment over three years.

Previously, Dr. Tate served as the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of Communication at Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus, Georgia. She was responsible for student support and success initiatives and international programs and partnerships. With a strong commitment to student success, Dr. Tate improved first-year retention by 12% while increasing the credit hours successfully completed by first-year students significantly. She also implemented Windows-to-the-World, a university-wide global learning initiative, and developed a study abroad partnership with the Henan Association of International Exchange.

As a professor at Columbia College in South Carolina, she was recognized as a South Carolina Governor’s Distinguished Professor and has been recognized by both students and her peers with several teaching awards.

She earned her Ph.D. in speech communication from Indiana University and her M.A. and B.A. degrees in speech communication from Idaho State University. She is an active member of the National Communication Association.