Meet the Provost
Carol Ann Gittens, PhD, Acting Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
On December 4, 2024, SMC President Roger Thompson announced the appointment of Carol Ann Gittens, PhD, as Acting Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost. Dr. Gittens will begin her tenure on January 1, 2025, and will complete her service in June 2027 at the end of the academic year.
Dr. Gittens has served as the Dean of SMC’s Kalmanovitz School of Education (KSOE) since 2019. There, she has distinguished herself as a teacher, scholar, and leader with an impressive record of accomplishment.
Her achievements in higher education and at Saint Mary’s are numerous and align well with the responsibilities required of our Provost. In her role as Dean of KSOE, she has capably overseen financial planning and budgeting, personnel management, and a broad suite of academic programs. In addition, she:
- Led the School’s strategic planning process and helped ensure its alignment with SMC’s Transformation 2028 strategic plan;
- Helped establish an Endowed Professorship in Early Literacy Intervention and Reading Recovery while conducting a variety of fundraising and public outreach activities;
- Generated private foundation grants, oversaw the School’s scholarship award process, and revitalized a Lasallian Educator Fellowship program;
- Championed, co-hosted, and funded several Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) initiatives;
- Provided organizational leadership for two academic centers.
Dr. Gittens's visionary leadership at KSOE has solidified and advanced the School’s academic and institutional excellence through constructive and effective use of resources and a persistent pursuit of external funding opportunities. Her depth of experience will be key in supporting Saint Mary’s faculty, our schools, and our deans, while also helping to shape and drive our academic program offerings.
More about Dr. Gittens's accomplishments as a higher education leader, including links to many of her scholarly papers and published articles, can be found on her academic website.
Dr. Carol Ann Gittens "At a Glance"
Scholarship
Dr. Gittens's scholarship includes the publication of dozens of journal articles, research papers, and presentations. Topics include Critical Thinking and Information Literacy; Assessment of Student Learning; Higher Education Administration; and Teacher Education / Educational Psychology.
Service
Dr. Gittens actively serves in professional and community capacities as an Accreditation reviewer for the WASC Senior College and University Commission; member of the Board of Institutional Reviewers, California Commission on Teacher Credentialing; and as a former Trustee for the Morgan Hill Unified School Board of Education. She frequently serves as a manuscript reviewer and as both a strategic consultant and external program evaluator.
Earlier appointments
Dr. Gittens served in a variety of senior leadership positions at Santa Clara University from 1997-2017, including Associate Dean, College of Arts & Sciences (2016-2017), Interim Chair, Sociology Department (2016-2017), Interim Dean, School of Education and Counseling Psychology (2015-2016), and Associate Dean, College of Arts & Sciences (2012-2015).