NDSU President Dean L. Bresciani has announced Ken Grafton has accepted the role of interim Provost.
“Dr. Grafton has extensive senior administrative experience and a proven record of success in these leadership roles. He will begin work Aug. 16 and remain until a search for a permanent provost is completed next year,” Bresciani said in an email to campus. “I want to thank the search committee for its excellent and thorough work on a short timeline.”
Grafton was named NDSU’s vice president for agricultural affairs in 2011, and dean of the College of Agriculture, Food Systems and Natural Resources in 2005. He became director of the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station in 2002, and has held all three roles concurrently. Bresciani said he is working with Grafton to determine leadership for those roles.
Grafton, who earned his doctorate from the University of Missouri, manages multiple complex budgets and works closely with the State Board of Agriculture Research and Education, legislators, university leaders and industry leaders. He has developed and presented numerous budgets to the legislature, and has extensive experience in private fundraising. Results have included the NDAES Greenhouse Complex, endowed chairs and professorships.
“Dr. Grafton has been a strong proponent of diversity with a proven record of creating opportunities for women and international faculty. For example, he increased the number of female full professors to 12 from only two when he became dean. Nearly half of the recently hired assistant professors are women, and approximately a third of the college’s faculty are female,” Bresciani said in the email. “He also worked to develop international agreements with the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, Beijing Forestry University and the University of Concepcion in Chile.”
Grafton succeeds Beth Ingram, who stepped down to take up a tenured faculty position in the Department of Transportation, Logistics and Finance.
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