President Levine announces Office of Provost transition

Brandeis Stories

President Levine announces Office of Provost transition

March 13, 2026

President Arthur Levine has announced that Provost Carol Fierke, PhD '84, who has served Brandeis in that role and as professor of biochemistry since 2021, will conclude her term at the end of the academic year. Linda Bui, founding dean of the School of Business and Economics, has been appointed Interim Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs.

Fierke will maintain her faculty appointment at Brandeis starting in July 2026.

"I want to thank Carol for her commitment and leadership, especially over the last 12 months during the roll out of the Brandeis Plan to Reinvent the Liberal Arts. She has provided wise counsel during that time and I appreciate her candid and thoughtful consultation as we restructured our academic enterprise and engaged our faculty in that process," Levine said in a message to the community. "I also want to thank Linda for her willingness to step into this critical role temporarily."

Carol Fierke

During her tenure as provost, Fierke oversaw the strategic restructuring of the academic structure in collaboration with the faculty and the recruiting of new vice provosts for graduate and undergraduate education. She also helped implement projects outlined in the strategic plan, including a new Center for Community Engagement (COMPACT), building a new undergraduate dorm, initiating an undergraduate engineering program, coordinating the Jewish Studies Consortium and hiring the Lavine Director. During her tenure she was instrumental in leading the university's transition back to campus following the COVID-19 pandemic and supported the successful transition between presidents in 2024. She supported the development and implementation of Brandeis Online as a university-wide collaboration to offer asynchronous certificates and master's programs, completed the five year NECHE accreditation review and initiated the 10 year NECHE accreditation review, which will take place over the next 12 months. Of note, in 2021 she was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was named one of 25 outstanding leaders by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education.

Linda Bui

Bui, who has served as founding dean of the School of Business and Economics since 2025, will assume her new role on July 1. Previously she served as senior associate provost for assessment and accreditation in the Office of the Provost at Brandeis, a role that provided her a university-wide perspective, and joined the faculty of the Department of Economics in 2004. From 2018 to 2024, she was the former International Business School's senior associate dean and associate dean of academic programs. She also served as program director of the school's Phd in International Economics and Finance. An environmental economist who studies environmental and health policy, her work has had an important impact on the development of US regulatory policy on air pollution and childhood lead poisoning.

Bui received a PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and previously taught at Boston University, the University of Michigan, MIT and the Sloan School of Management.