Joe Wilferth

Dr. Wilferth proudly serves as the Provost & Vice President of Academic Affairs. As such, he serves as the chief academic and student life officer of the University. He provides leadership and support for the University’s faculty and staff, and he focuses on academic and student life in strategic planning and implementation. He is a champion for inclusive excellence and belonging on campus.

He coordinates the work of an amazing team that includes the University’s Associate Provost for Research & Engagement, Associate Provost for Student Success, Director of Mickel Library, Registrar, Dean of the Converse College for Women, Dean of the Graduate School, Dean of the School of the Arts, Dean of the School of Liberal Arts & Sciences, and Dean of the School of Business & Data Science.

His teaching and research interests intersect to include social movement theory, the environmental movement in the US, environmental literature, disability studies, and visual culture. Dr. Wilferth’s peer-reviewed scholarship appears in the journals Enculturation, Computers & Composition Online, Southern Indiana Review, Kairos (A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy), Text Technology, Christianity and Literature, the AAC&U’s Liberal Education, and more.

An academic at heart, Dr. Wilferth knows the transformative power of a four-year degree. The attainment of that degree does, as Converse’s mission states so well, empower students to serve as transformative leaders in their respective communities who see clearly, decide wisely, and act justly.