Oglethorpe University President Kathryn McClymond has named Dr. Gabriel Barreneche Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs following a national search. Barreneche currently serves as Dean of the Evans School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences and professor of Spanish at Berry College in Rome, Ga. He will join the Oglethorpe administration July 1.

Dr. Gabriel Barreneche

“Dr. Barreneche has a demonstrated commitment to student success, classroom instruction, innovation, and fostering multicultural perspectives,” McClymond said. “I believe with Dr. Barreneche’s appointment and with the help of our faculty, Oglethorpe is well-positioned to being recognized as Atlanta’s premier undergraduate learning experience.”

As chief academic officer and a member of the senior administrative leadership team, Barreneche will oversee all academic affairs and faculty, as well as the Office of the Registrar, Academic Success, Weltner Library, Global Education and the Oglethorpe University Museum of Art.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to join the administration at this moment in Oglethorpe’s history under President McClymond’s leadership,” Barreneche said. “I believe Oglethorpe has a bright future, and I am eager to join this dedicated faculty in pursuit of teaching excellence and empowering student success.”

In his role at Berry, Barreneche served as the chief academic, administrative and budgetary officer for the Evans School where he supervised 69 full-time faculty in nine academic departments and 17 academic majors. He previously served as Associate Dean for Advising in the College of Liberal Arts at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla.

He also worked as the academic lead for student success initiatives helping to increase first-year student retention by 4% and second-year student retention by 8% over three years. During his time at Rollins, he served as Associate Dean of the Faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences, first-year seminar director, director and faculty-in-residence of the living-learning communities and Hispanic Studies program director.

Among his many publications are the co-edited volume “Educational Technology for the Global Village: Worldwide Innovation and Best Practices” and “Reciprocity and Partnership: How Do We Know it Is Working?” which he co-authored in “Reconceptualizing Faculty Development in Service-Learning/Community Engagement.”

A member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, Barreneche earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish from Boston College and his Master of Arts and Ph.D. in Hispanic Languages and Literature from the University of California, Los Angeles.

McClymond thanked interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Kendra King Momon for her leadership and the search committee co-chaired by Oglethorpe’s Chief-of-Staff and General Counsel Regina Mincberg and Dr. Brian Patterson, associate professor of mathematics and computer science. The committee members are Eli Arnold, Dr. Stephen Craft, Dr. Judith Levy, Ed Rosser, Dr. Rhana Gittens Wheeler, and Dr. Amanda Whooley.