Meet the Interim President

Melanie Perreault, Ph.D., assumed the role of interim president on February 1, 2023 after serving four years as provost and executive vice president for academic and student affairs.

Since joining TU in February 2019, Dr. Perreault has served as the institution’s chief academic officer. During her tenure as provost, she managed 125 degree programs (undergraduate, master’s and doctorate) and oversaw support of nearly 23,000 students annually, more than 1,700 full-time and adjunct faculty and over 200 staff and administrators. She was also responsible for the creation and implementation of the university’s academic priorities and provides leadership over TU’s six academic colleges, the Honors College, the Office of Graduate Studies, the Albert S. Cook Library and the divisions of student affairs and enrollment management.

Dr. Perreault has spearheaded the university’s strategic goal of obtaining R2 Carnegie Classification for high research activity, an institutional priority that will further Towson University’s impact as a global leader. In 2022, she oversaw the process to expand TU’s mission statement to place greater emphasis on research and doctoral programming.

Dr. Perreault has also bolstered university support for faculty teaching and scholarship with instructional design services through the Faculty Academic Center of Excellence at Towson (FACET). In addition, she has helped to diversity TU’s professoriate by investing in programs that make faculty searches more inclusive and support the hiring and retention of underrepresented educators.

To further advance student success and academic excellence, Dr. Perreault established the Office of Competitive Fellowships and Awards, which supports academically strong students in growing their educational and career goals through highly competitive global awards. Her vision and leadership led to the creation of the Cook Library Academic Commons, an innovative one-stop-shop for academic support services in the heart of TU’s campus.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Perreault led the university’s COVID response team, working with the University System of Maryland, government officials and medical experts to set forth mitigation policies on TU’s campus. Her office also established resources for students and faculty amid the transition to remote learning.

To help rebound from COVID-era enrollment losses and support students with a high financial need, Dr. Perreault increased institutional aid to incoming students. In 2022, she began the development of TU’s first-ever comprehensive enrollment master planning process.

For her leadership at Towson University, Dr. Perreault was named to The Daily Record’s 2022 Top 100 Women List, which recognizes outstanding professional accomplishments, community leadership and mentoring.

Dr. Perreault has 25 years of experience in higher education as faculty and an administrator. She was an assistant professor of history at the University of Central Arkansas before joining Salisbury University in Maryland, where she served as department chair and moved through the academic ranks to become a professor and later the associate provost. Before coming to Towson University, she was provost at SUNY Buffalo State College.

Dr. Perreault received a B.A. in History from Lawrence University in 1990 and a Ph.D. in Colonial American History from the College of William and Mary in 1997.