About the Provost
Gloria S. Waters was named University provost and chief academic officer of Boston University in July 2024. She provides leadership for the University’s overall academic, budgetary, and planning processes and oversight of its academic programs, research, global programs, enrollment, student affairs, and library systems.
Dr. Waters is the University’s 2nd-ranking officer and oversees the academic deans of BU’s 17 schools and colleges and the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences. Her portfolio includes a vast range of offices and initiatives designed to enhance BU’s academic integrity and global competitiveness, including its divisions in undergraduate, graduate, and online education, faculty affairs, and community and inclusion; ongoing efforts to assess the effectiveness of academic programs, develop and incorporate general education for all undergraduates, and promote student wellbeing; and implementation of BU’s latest 10-year strategic plan.
Prior to her appointment, Dr. Waters served as Boston University’s vice president and associate provost for research from 2013-2024. In this role, she oversaw BU’s $550M-plus research enterprise, representing the University to key stakeholders in government, industry, and foundations and leading the development and implementation of effective policies and procedures to streamline and manage research. Under her leadership, BU instituted external reviews of the University-wide research centers and restructured and added several new centers to its portfolio. She was instrumental in strengthening BU’s membership within the Association of American Universities.
Dr. Waters previously served as dean of BU’s Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences from 2005 to 2013. There, she led dramatic increases in the size, quality, and selectivity of the college’s undergraduate and graduate programs, enhancing student and faculty support and doubling the volume of its research funding.
Among the world’s leading scholars in the area of language and memory processes, Dr. Waters is a professor of speech, language and hearing science and has been a member of the BU faculty since 1997. Her research includes a sizeable portfolio of federal and foundation-sponsored awards from the US Department of Education, the National Institutes of Health, the Medical Research Council of Canada, and the Alzheimer’s Association of America, among others. Before arriving at BU, she served as acting director of the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders at McGill University in Montreal.
She received her BA in psychology from McGill and her MA in applied psychology and PhD in psychology from Montreal’s Concordia University.