Welcome to the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. The Provost oversees all Florida State University academic and academic service units.

Message from the Provost

Welcome to the 2024-25 academic year! It’s our third year with President Richard McCullough at the helm and our sixth year as one of the top 25 public universities in the nation. We are incredibly proud of what our university has achieved, and we continue to aspire to even greater heights.

The Office of the Provost promotes excellence in all academic areas, fostering an environment focused on teaching, research, and public service. As a Preeminent University in Florida, FSU expects and recognizes the best from our students, faculty, staff, and community. Here are some highlights of great things we are doing.

• Welcoming More than 200 New Faculty - We are attracting some of the most distinguished faculty in the country to our top-ranked programs across campus, including in the arts and humanities, the sciences, law, medicine, education, business, policy, and criminology. Our faculty design teaching experiences that empower our students to accomplish their personal and professional goals. They consistently contribute groundbreaking, award-winning research to their fields. Our faculty are crucial to our success in every way, inside and outside the classroom.
• Attracting the Best and Brightest Undergraduates – We received more than 79,000 applications for about 6,000 spots in this year’s freshman class – a new record for FSU. The academic profile of the Class of 2028 is further evidence that we continue to attract incredibly talented students. The new cohort includes more students than ever engaging with FSU’s Honors Program and the Center for Academic Retention and Enhancement (CARE), a nationally recognized model for supporting underrepresented and first-generation students. We deliver a world-class education to our entire student body.
• Leading the Way for Student Success – FSU posted some of the nation’s top retention and graduation rates, achieving a 96% freshman retention rate and a four-year graduation rate of 76%, which broke our previous record. We also set a record six-year graduation rate of 86%. Most important, we virtually eliminated graduation rate disparities across race, ethnicity, and income level. Recognizing our leadership in these efforts, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) honored FSU with the 2021 Degree Completion Award — the top student success award in the country.
• Breaking Graduate Enrollment Records – For the fourth year in a row, FSU has had more than 17,000 applications to its graduate programs. The past 2023-2024 academic year saw the highest number of PhD graduations ever, whilst Fall 2024 had the largest ever incoming doctoral cohort helping to produce a record number of enrolled doctoral students. Our growing ranks of excellent faculty and increased research productivity are drawing more graduate students to apply and enroll.
• Centers and Institutes – Our centers and institutes provide our outstanding faculty with the structure needed to excel in their areas of interest. Through research, practice, and collaboration, our centers and institutes produce millions of dollars in economic impact for the State of Florida while addressing global, national and local issues toward improving the human condition. We do this by creating, maintaining and sustaining environments that support the intra- and interinstitutional research, service, and/or educational/training activities that supplement and extend existing instruction, research, and service at the university.
• FIRE College Free Speech Rankings – FSU ranked #3 (out of 251 institutions) in FIRE’s 2025 College Free Speech Rankings and is the only Florida institution in the top 10. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) is a non-profit organization that assesses colleges and universities nationwide regarding whether their policies restrict student speech. FIRE has recognized FSU’s efforts to safeguard every individual’s right to free speech and expression. FSU has received a top-rated "green light" rating from FIRE since 2020.

Our students, faculty, staff, and alumni are living proof of success at FSU! Take a closer look.

Areas Reporting to the Provost

• Academic Affairs (all colleges, centers, institutes, academic services and more)
• Office of Faculty Development and Advancement
• The Graduate School
• The Ringling
• Division of Undergraduate Studies