UMass Dartmouth Names New Provost

DARTMOUTH — UMass Dartmouth has named its next Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs: Dr. Hanchen Huang, who will be starting in the role on July 18.

The university announced his appointment as Provost — the chief academic officer at a university — in a release Wednesday.

Huang comes to Dartmouth from the University of North Texas, where he was the Dean of the school's College of Engineering.

While there, he increased enrollment at the college, improved its national rankings, and grew the number of faculty positions, according to the statement.

He formerly worked in Boston as Department Chair of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Northeastern University.

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A first-generation college student, Huang is committed to expanding educational opportunities.

In Texas he led the development of a Diversity Awareness Committee for faculty and staff as well as a diverse engineering network for students of color to access support from industry leaders.

He was hired after a "highly competitive national search," according to the university's statement.

“I am honored and excited to join a research university with such a strong trajectory of success, which also serves a diverse student population,” said Huang. “I look forward to working with UMass Dartmouth’s exceptional faculty, staff and students in the months ahead.”

UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Mark Fuller commented: “Dr. Huang is not only an extremely accomplished researcher and educator, he is also deeply committed to providing opportunities to students from all backgrounds."

“He has made a tremendous impact on the institutions where he served as a dean and department chair, and I am excited for him to join UMass Dartmouth as we continue to enhance the university’s national reputation and societal impact,” he added.

Huang has a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from UCLA, a BS in Physics from Hebei Normal University and an MS in Theoretical Nuclear Physics from the Institute of Atomic Energy/Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.

He was also a post-doctoral fellow in computational mechanics and materials at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.