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Gwen is the provost and senior vice president of academic affairs for the Â鶹´«Ã½. She joined Â鶹´«Ã½in October 2022 with immense experience in several leadership positions over a 24-year span at Rutgers University, where she served in multiple roles, including dean of the Rutgers School of Health Professions (SHP), dean for Research at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS), director of the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, and director of Cancer Research at the NCI designated Cancer Institute of New Jersey in Newark.

With a master’s degree in medical genetics from the University of British Columbia and a doctorate in biomedical science from Rutgers School of Graduate Studies, Gwen is an accomplished scholar. Her well-funded research has made important contributions to the field of molecular oncology, and she received the Cancer Institute of New Jersey’s Gallo Award for Outstanding Research five times. In addition, her experience in strategic research leadership and management includes overseeing a large research enterprise at NJMS that included six core facilities and a portfolio of $90 million in extramural funding. Over her career she has developed and secured highly competitive NIH grant awards for novel pre- and post-doc graduate research training programs, summer research exposure experiences for undergraduate and professional students, as well as construction, shared research core facilities, and instrumentation grants.

Gwen served on the faculty for the Rutgers Center for Organizational Leadership, where she taught crisis communication and change management in the academic leadership program. She was the 2020 recipient of the Outstanding Leadership Award from the New Jersey Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association for her consistent community-wide communication efforts and her championing of mental health and wellness programming for faculty, professional staff, and students at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences during the COVID pandemic.

Since joining Â鶹´«Ã½as provost, Gwen has led the development of its College of Business, Honors College, and 15 new academic programs. She re-envisioned academic programming on the Tangier Campus and recruited twelve senior academic leaders. Most recently, she launched UNE’s Institute of Public and Planetary Health which serves as an innovation hub where UNE’s strengths in environmental science, sustainability, and public health can be leveraged to support UNE’s mission of healthy people, healthy communities, and a healthy planet.

As a first-generation college graduate, Gwen is passionate about helping others access the opportunities that higher education has provided her and has a keen understanding of the importance of a student-centered philosophy and a community-engaged approach in higher education.