Rock Hill’s Winthrop names chemistry professor as first Provost’s Faculty Fellow
Winthrop chemistry professor Takita Felder Sumter will be taking an active role in projects with the university’s Provost Office.
The provost acts as chief academic officer of the university and reports directly to the university president. Winthrop has named Felder the first Provost’s Faculty Fellow, according to a release from the university.
“The Provost’s Faculty Fellows Program provides emerging and current faculty leaders with opportunities to develop and demonstrate administrative leadership,” the release states. “At the same time, fellows contribute full-time faculty perspectives to the work of the Office of the Provost, expanding the collaboration among faculty and administrators.”
Felder holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of South Carolina and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She joined the Winthrop faculty in 2004.
Felder’s work has been published in Science’s Nextwave and American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Today, as well as scientific journals.
As a Provost Faculty Fellow, Felder will represent the Provost Office on projects such as Winthrop’s strategic plan for 2025, the release states.
“Dr. Sumter was selected as the first Provost’s Faculty Fellow because she has made exceptional contributions to student intellectual development and support, to her discipline’s scholarship through publications and grants, and through her professional stewardship, including her interim leadership of the nutrition department,” said Debra Boyd, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.
Felder also serves as chair of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Minority Affairs Committee and co-leads the society’s interactive Mentoring Activities for Grantsmanship Enhancement program, according to the release.
That $500,000 initiative is funded by the National Science Foundation and aims to mentor early-career faculty across the U.S., the release says.
This story was originally published January 26, 2017 at 4:11 PM with the headline "Rock Hill’s Winthrop names chemistry professor as first Provost’s Faculty Fellow."