Sunil Kumar appointed next Hopkins provost

The University has selected Sunil Kumar, dean of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, to be its fifteenth provost, effective Sept. 1. Kumar will replace Robert C. Lieberman, who will become a Krieger-Eisenhower professor in the Krieger School of Arts & Sciences (KSAS) and will continue his research on the intersection of race and inequality in the United States.

As the provost, Kumar will be the University’s chief academic officer and also collaborate with university leadership on various policies and priorities, such as diversity and financial aid. He is the first provost of Asian descent to be appointed to the position.

Kumar is a native of Southern India and came to the United States to earn his doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Since then, he has dedicated his life to researching the intersection of engineering and business, focusing on applying optimization methods to manufacturing, communications and managerial problems. Prior to serving as the dean of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, he taught for 14 years at Stanford University. Hopkins students eager to meet Kumar should know that he is reserved, but loves a good meatloaf.

“He emerged from a field of dozens of highly qualified candidates during an exhaustive four-month national search,” University President Ronald J. Daniels wrote in an email to the Hopkins community. “Trained as an engineer, he is a proven academic leader with uncompromising standards for excellence, great integrity, and a deep-seated commitment to collaboration.”

During his five years as dean at Chicago, Kumar’s achievements included raising more than $300 million, increasing the business school’s enrollment of women from 35 percent to 42 percent and helping to establish the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, all while teaching a course on operations research for doctorate students.

“His record of accomplishments and our extensive recruitment process show Dr. Kumar to be a scholar and leader who is passionate about higher education, committed to values that align with the priorities of the Ten by Twenty, and well suited to be a steward and champion of this extraordinary institution,” Daniels wrote.