With nearly two decades of professional and academic experience at Southern, Dr. Julia Irwin has been appointed interim provost and vice president for academic affairs.
Dr. Robert Prezant, Southern’s Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, will be leaving the university Aug. 2 to take up the presidency of Farmingdale State University on Long Island.
“Julia is an outstanding academician who fully understands the nuances of being a faculty member and an administrator,” said Interim President Dwayne Smith in a letter to the campus community. “As such, she is an ideal choice to serve as Interim Provost.”
Irwin has excelled in teaching, publishing, securing grants, and, most recently, in administrative leadership as the interim dean of the School of Graduate and Professional Studies.
Irwin joined Southern in 2008 and rose through the faculty ranks to earn a full professorship in psychology in 2017. She has an extensive publication record, with her work focused on audiovisual speech perception in children, including those with autism spectrum disorders.  Prior to her interim deanship appointment in 2022, Irwin was a senior research scientist at Haskins Laboratories and the director of the LEARN Center at Yale University.
Her appointment will start on Friday, July 12, 2024.
