After conducting a national search, the University of Evansville has named Michael Austin as the University’s executive vice president for academic affairs. He will begin his new duties on July 1.

The search process was extensive. Four finalists were chosen from a large pool of candidates. Each finalist visited campus and interacted with a faculty, staff, administrators, and a group of University of Evansville trustees. The search committee surveyed those who had met with the candidates and then made the recommendation to offer the position to Austin. 

Austin earned his PhD in English literature from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He earned his MA and BA degrees in English from Brigham Young University. Austin comes to UE from Newman University, where he was provost and vice president of academic affairs and a professor of English. During his career, he has also served as dean of graduate studies at Shepherd University, and chair of that school’s English and modern languages department.

Austin is the author of several books, including Useful Fictions: Evolution, Anxiety, and the Origins of Literature, That’s Not What They Meant! Reclaiming the Founding Fathers from America’s Right Wing, and Re-Reading Job: Understanding the Ancient World’s Greatest Poem.