Daily News

UMass Amherst Names Tricia Serio Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

AMHERST — Tricia Serio has been named provost and senior vice chancellor for Academic Affairs at UMass Amherst. She started her new position on July 18.

Serio previously served as dean of the College of Natural Sciences (CNS) and associate chancellor for Strategic Academic Planning. Over the course of five years of service to UMass, she has demonstrated her strong commitment to academic excellence, student success, and faculty advancement. She has established a record of innovation, a collaborative and compassionate leadership style, and a commitment to systematic planning and data-informed decision making. As a first-generation college graduate, she has a passion for the university’s goal of inclusive excellence.

Serio joined UMass as dean of CNS in August 2017 after serving as professor and head of the department of Molecular And Cellular Biology at the University of Arizona. Her professional honors include the 2016 Mid-career Award for Excellence in Research from the American Society for Cell Biology, the Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences for 2003-07, and the National Cancer Institute’s Howard Temin Award for 2001-06. In 2022, she was selected to be a fellow in the American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the pre-eminent scientific institution in the U.S.

Serio earned a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology from Lehigh University and a master of philosophy degree and Ph.D. in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale University. She was a postdoctoral fellow in molecular genetics and cell biology at the University of Chicago.