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Office of the Provost Staff Directory

Name

Position

Email

Telephone

Michael Soto Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs msoto@pointpark.edu  412-392-3976
James H. Thomas Associate Provost jhthomas@pointpark.edu 412-392-3983
Emily Conrad Director of Academic Affairs econrad@pointpark.edu 412-392-3941
Zachary Vought Executive Assistant to the Provost and VP of Enrollment Mangement zvought@pointpark.edu 412-392-3976

 

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Michael Soto

Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs

Michael Soto serves as Point Park University's provost and senior vice president of
academic affairs. As the chief academic officer of the University, he oversees all academic programs; faculty; academic support staff; departments of student affairs, registrar, and institutional research and planning; and the library.

A native of South Texas, Soto holds a Ph.D. in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard University and a B.A. in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford University.

Prior to his current role, Soto was Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of English at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. He is the author of six books and many articles on twentieth-century U.S. literature and cultural history.

Selected Books:

  • The Modernist Nation: Generation, Renaissance, and Twentieth-Century American Literature (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2004)
  • Editor, Teaching the Harlem Renaissance: Course Design and Classroom Strategies (New York: Peter Lang, 2008)
  • Measuring the Harlem Renaissance: The U.S. Census, African American Identity, and Literary Form (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2016)
  • Editor, A Companion to American Literature: 1914 to the Present (West Sussex: Wiley Blackwell, 2020)

 

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James H. Thomas

Associate Provost

James Thomas serves as Point Park University's associate provost. He brings approximately 30 years of higher education experience to Point Park University. Thomas holds a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Dickinson College, a Master of Education in counseling from the University of Missouri, and an Ed.D. in higher education leadership from West Virginia University.

Thomas has served in many different capacities over the years including chairperson, program director, and associate professor of leadership studies at Geneva College, vice president for academic services at Community College of Beaver County, interim assistant vice president for academic services at West Virginia State University, and dean of student development at Wheeling Jesuit College in West Virginia. Before his appointment as associate provost in 2011, Thomas served as the assistant dean in the School of Arts and Sciences since 2008.

 

Emily Conrad

Director of Academic Affairs

Emily Conrad is responsible to the provost and senior vice president for academic affairs for the management of academic administration responsibilities in Academic Affairs. She is responsible for providing support to strategic teams and committees within the University; oversight of faculty processes (promotion and tenure, sabbatical, etc.); preparation of reports to support Academic Affairs; interpreting, monitoring and analyzing policies and procedures within Academic Affairs; and administering budgets and coordinating academic and staff personnel matters within Academic Affairs.

Prior to her current role in the Office of Provost, Conrad was the Director of Academic Administration in the Rowland School of Business.  She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a B.A. in Economics and Business Administration and received a M.B.A. from the University of New Orleans.