After a nationwide search, Linfield University has selected Beth E. Concepción as its new vice president for academic affairs and provost, President Miles K. Davis announced Tuesday. Her appointment at Linfield begins July 31.
“This is a wonderful day for Linfield,” Davis said. “Dr. Concepción is a creative, progressive and strategic leader with a wealth of higher education experience. I can think of no one better suited to be the chief academic officer of Linfield.”
Concepción said she is thrilled to join Linfield in the role.
“I’m so impressed by the commitment to the Linfield mission from the faculty, staff and students,” she said, citing the university’s forward-looking ethos. “Linfield is very progressive in its thinking about the role of higher education both now and in the future — there is a strong focus on student wants, needs and success.”
Concepción comes to Linfield University from Missouri University of Science and Technology, where she served as vice provost for educational innovation and executive director for the Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence, as well as a teaching professor in the English and technical communications department.
Her academic experience includes roles as assistant provost for strategic engagement in Oglethorpe University’s Hammack School of Business, dean of the School of Liberal Arts at Savannah College of Art and Design, and chair of the writing department and writing professor at SCAD, among others.
She earned a Ph.D. in journalism and mass communication from the University of South Carolina, as well as an M.A. and MFA in media and performing arts from Savannah College of Art and Design, a B.A. in English from Oglethorpe University, and a B.S. in geosciences from Mississippi State University. Research interests include journalism ethics and practice, journalism education and television news gatekeeping.
Concepción is from Atlanta, Georgia, and has more than 30 years of experience as a journalist working for media organizations including CNN; WJXT in Jacksonville, Florida; WTGS and WJCL in Savannah, Georgia; WNEG in Toccoa, Georgia; Savannah Morning News; Savannah Magazine; and the Reporter Newspapers in Atlanta.
In alignment with her experience and education, Concepción also will serve as professor of journalism and media studies. Her background in reporting imparted skills that have served her well in the world of higher education, she said.
“As a journalist, you always gather a wide variety of information and perspectives then synthesize and communicate in a way that facilitates understanding and action,” she said. “You interact, engage with and listen to a wide variety of humans. It’s invaluable training for any leader.”
In addition to her career in university teaching, academic administration and journalism, Concepción has served the community as a member-at-large for the Lafayette Square Neighborhood Association and editor of The Marquis in St. Louis; a member of the Brookhaven Chamber of Commerce, Buckhead Rotary and Chamblee High School Principal’s Advisory Council in Atlanta; and the community representative for the Oglethorpe Charter School Governing Board in Savannah.
