Provost

Dr. Josh R. Auld 
Interim Provost

Dr. Josh R. Auld serves as Interim Provost, providing leadership for academic and curricular matters.  Dr. Auld  leads the day-to-day operations of the Division of Academic Affairs, and exercises direct oversight of the deans, associate provosts, and key academic leaders across the university.  Josh also serves as Interim Dean of the Honors College and the Graduate School and represents the university at the system-level Council of Chief Academic Officers.  In addition to his formal duties as Interim Provost, Josh represents represent the administration across a range of shared governance and institutional forums. He is responsible for maintaining regular engagement and productive working relationships with APSCUF, CAPC, Faculty Senate, Council of Chairs, and, as Interim Dean of the Graduate School and through the Graduate Council, represents WCU on the Pennsylvania Transfer and Articulation Oversight Committee (TAOC), and works closely with the Office of the Chancellor to ensure WCU’s academic program array is aligned with PASSHE. 

Helen Hammerschmidt 
Associate Vice President, Communication, Operations & Strategy

Helen Hammerschmidt serves as a trusted advisor and university partner who supports the university’s mission and strategic plan for the Division of Academic Affairs on matters related to the Office of the Provost.  She also serves as the chief liaison between the Division of Academic Affairs and the Division of University Advancement and External Affairs (UAEA) with primary responsibility for the university’s corporate partnerships and external advisory boards.

Megan Fahey
Executive Associate to the Executive Vice President and Provost

Megan supports the Academic Affairs Division and works effectively within an environment of distributed leadership. She is responsible for the daily administration of the  Executive Vice President and Provost Offices and supervision of clerical staff and manages projects within certain deadlines. In conjunction with the Deputy Provost, Megan works closely with deans, Human Resources and faculty union on all aspects of the collective bargaining agreement, including workload and pay issues. She works on a variety of issues and projects for the Deputy Provost such as administrative searches, providing data, and writing reports. She coordinates summer school workloads and payroll for faculty and also serves as a liaison to senior administrators, chairs of campus committees, legal counsel, and State System administrators.

Mary Pat Werley 
Assistant Vice President for Academic Budgets and Resource Planning

Mary Pat serves as a strategic partner in guiding the allocation of resources to support the academic priorities of the university strategic plan.  The AVP is responsible for undertaking analyses, researching issues, preparing reports, and developing recommendations for the finances and budgets of the Academic Affairs division.  This position provides leadership and financial guidance for the colleges and academic affairs directors; and serves as advisor to the Provost, Deputy Provost, and Deans on all divisional resource matters.  The AVP is the chief liaison with the university budget office and works closely with all university divisions to ensure that the academic mission of the university is fiscally supported with a spirit of collaboration, communication, and cooperation. 

Judy Oulouhojian 
Academic Affairs Budget Associate

Judy performs budgetary analysis and project management assignments that support the Academic Affairs Division. She works closely with the Academic Affairs Budget Manager and the Vice Provost. She is responsible for tracking the financial status for these areas through reconciliation, problem solving, and analysis. Judy works closely with the university college mangers to ensure accuracy and timeliness of divisional budget entries, and serves as a liaison with divisional staff, the budget office, and the payroll office for supplemental faculty payments.

Stephanie Kienle
Director of Faculty Affairs and Quality Improvement

Stephanie supports the Executive Vice President and Provost in the President’s Executive Office as the Director of Faculty Affairs and Quality Improvement. With a solution driven and systems focused approach, Steph manages faculty tenure and promotion data, tenured and probationary faculty evaluation schedules, sabbaticals, AWAs, and faculty retirement/resignation communications. Steph continues to collaborate with Academic Contract Administration & Compliance Operations on the development of a compliance process for student clinical and internship placements.

Since starting her WCU career in 2014 with the College of Health Sciences, Steph has implemented process improvement & data management strategies. Most notable, she revitalized the approval of student internship experiences by developing online applications with streamlined workflow processes, and built a comprehensive database to manage and track the status of affiliation agreements with external community partners.

Steph is a proud 2x WCU graduate and alumni of the women’s lacrosse team. With a passion for building collaborative relationships, Steph serves as a Provost office liaison to the college deans, administrative staff, and university stakeholders to ensure operational excellence and continuous improvement.