BLOOMINGTON, Illinois — John Miles, currently provost and vice president of academic affairs at Reinhardt University in Georgia, has been named Illinois Wesleyan's next provost and dean of faculty, effective July 1.
"I'm immensely pleased to welcome John Miles to the Titan family," said IWU President Sheahon Zenger. "He brings a strong background in the liberal arts and shared faculty governance, and is known as a trusted leader who builds connections with faculty, staff and students."
Miles succeeds Interim Provost Dave Marvin, who is retiring after 31 years on the faculty at Illinois Wesleyan.
"I'm excited to join such a dedicated community of faculty, staff and leaders at Illinois Wesleyan," Miles said. "With the university's long history of a distinctive blend of broad-based, liberal arts education combined with strong pre-professional programs — and a proven ability to continually evolve over its 175-year history — IWU is well positioned to face many challenges facing higher education. I look forward to the opportunity to help guide the next steps in the institution's future."
Miles has served at Reinhardt University since 2021. Among his accomplishments, he guided the private university in an overhaul of its general education pathways; developed new academic programs; created the office of student success, which increased student retention; created an office of undergraduate research; and secured multiple grants and earmarks for new programs, labs and equipment.
Prior to joining Reinhardt, Miles served for 13 years at Wofford College, a private liberal arts college in South Carolina. As a member of the English faculty and Director of the Writing Center, he implemented writing across the curriculum training and assessment. Then as Wofford's Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Academic Planning, he developed and implemented an academic assessment plan and led a successful reaccreditation process.
He was a fellow of the American Council of Education in 2017-2018, when he was mentored by leadership at Coker University in South Carolina, and researched and visited over 40 campuses across the country to meet with presidents and other administrators to discuss how they were facing challenges in higher education.
Miles earned his bachelor's in English from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, his master's in English from North Carolina State University, and his PhD at the University of New Mexico, also in English, with concentrations in Rhetoric and Composition, as well as Native American Literature and Rhetoric.