Minerva University President Mike Magee announced today the appointment of Patrice McMahon, Ph.D., as the university’s new provost. She will begin her term on July 1, at the conclusion of her residency at The Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center.
Currently an International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations based at the Community of Democracies in Warsaw, Poland,McMahon has had a distinguished career in scholarship, teaching and academic leadership at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. A two-time Fulbright award winner, her career has included numerous teaching awards, including “best class at UNL.” Her scholarly contributions include, most recently, Activism in Hard Times in Central and Eastern Europe: people power, a collaboration between activists and academics from seven countries, The NGO Game: Post-Conflict Peacebuilding in the Balkans and Beyond (2017) and, with co-author David Forsythe, American Exceptionalism Reconsidered: U.S. Foreign Policy, Human Rights and World Order (2017). From 2018-2024 she was the Director of UNL’s Honors Program. McMahon is currently working on a book project, Ordinary People: Grassroots Humanitarianism and the Future of Aid, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), that explores Polish humanitarianism toward Ukrainian refugees.
“Patrice McMahon understands why Minerva University’s innovations are so important, to the students we serve and to global higher education,” said Magee. “She is an exceptional leader who shares our commitment to building a global institution where aspiring leaders from every nation come to live and learn together and to collaborate on a safe and sustainable future.”
University Trustee Bertil Andersson, chair of the board’s academic committee, was also a member of the search committee that led to McMahon’s hiring. Andersson, former President of Nanyang Technological University and former chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said, “Patrice McMahon’s distinguished career as a scholar of International Relations, her leadership of the Honors Program at Nebraska and her commitment to innovative higher education make her an excellent fit for Minerva.”
“As the proud mother of a Minervan (M20), I have followed the university’s trajectory from its beginning. After 26 years in higher education, I know that Minerva has rightfully earned the title as the most innovative university in the world and that its ‘secret sauce’ is the faculty. With impressive degrees and a wealth of experience, Minerva faculty devote 100% of their time to students and student learning! I have never witnessed this before – as a student or a professor. As a scholar of International Relations, I am convinced that Minerva’s interdisciplinary, systems-thinking approach where faculty collaborate to co-create classes and project-based learning at campuses around the world is exactly what young people need to be successful in an uncertain, globalized world. I am grateful for the opportunity to help advance Minerva’s mission – for our students and the world,” McMahon said.
About Minerva University:
Minerva University, headquartered in San Francisco, California, is committed to providing a transformative educational experience, allowing the brightest and most motivated students from around the world to become leaders, critical thinkers, and global citizens. Ranked #1 for three consecutive years in the World University Rankings for Innovation, Minerva offers a reinvented interdisciplinary curriculum, a cutting-edge seminar model paired with project-based, experiential learning, and an immersive global experience in several cities around the world.
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