Jim Eck is Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Brenau University, a position he began in 2017. During his years of service, the university received a decennial reaffirmation of accreditation without a single finding of noncompliance, and has developed dozens of new academic programs.
Prior to joining the Brenau community, Eck served as Provost and Executive Vice President at Louisburg College in North Carolina since 2010. During his seven years at Louisburg, he was the Project Director of a $2.25 million Title III grant. He also led the college’s decennial reaffirmation of accreditation without a single finding of noncompliance, and was awarded the President’s Medallion, the institution’s highest honor.
Eck served Rollins College in Florida for eight years in several leadership positions, including Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Acting Dean of the Hamilton Holt School/Rollins Evening since 2002. During his tenure, he led institutional research and assessment, serving as the President of the Southern Association for Institutional Research. Invited annually to present at the SACSCOC annual meeting and summer institute, his research also appeared in Assessment Update and the Journal of General Education.
Additionally, Eck served Samford University in Alabama as Director of Institutional Research since 1997. During his five years at Samford, he led assessment efforts related to the university’s $3.3 million Problem-Based Learning grant from the Pew Forum on Undergraduate Learning. During this time, his research appeared in Trusteeship, and he served as the President of the Alabama Association for Institutional Research, where he received the Sutton Award for leadership and outstanding accomplishment in the field of institutional research and related fields.
Eck earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology at Ball State University, a Master of Business Administration at Samford University, and a PhD in higher education at the University of Georgia where he is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Most recently, he earned the certificate Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.