University of Chicago provost Daniel Diermeier named Vanderbilt University’s chancellor

Vanderbilt University has named Daniel Diermeier its new chancellor, putting the renowned scholar who is now the University of Chicago’s provost, to its top post as of next July.

“Daniel has the vision, leadership experience and deep commitment to trans-institutional research and teaching that we were seeking in our ninth chancellor,” Bruce R. Evans, board chairman of the private university in Nashville, Tennessee, said Wednesday. “Daniel also shares Vanderbilt’s commitment to making an elite education accessible to all qualified students, regardless of their background or ability to pay, a commitment informed by his own experiences as a first-generation college student.”

“Vanderbilt is among the world’s most prestigious universities,” Diermeier said.

He got his doctorate in political science from the University of Rochester in 1995 and has master’s degrees in philosophy and political science from the University of Southern California, the University of Munich and the University of Rochester.

In addition to serving as U. of C.’s provost — the school’s chief academic officer — Diermeier is a David Lee Shillinglaw Distinguished Service Professor at its Harris School of Public Policy. He previously was dean of the Harris School and helped transform it into the third-ranked public policy school in the nation.

He previously taught at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

Diermeier is a Guggenheim fellow and a member of the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has published four books.