Amy Thompson, Ph.D., FESG, CHES

Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost

Following an extensive and rigorous national search beginning in July 2024, Oakland University selected Amy Thompson, Ph.D., as Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost in December 2024. She began on March 31, 2025.

She replaced Interim Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Kevin Corcoran, who served in this role for six months after the departure of former Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Britt Rios-Ellis.

Dr. Thompson has 20 years of higher education experience and 10 years of progressively advanced administrative leadership experience. As OU’s chief academic officer, she oversees academic affairs initiatives and programs, including student success, community engagement, grant funding, and program accreditation and assessment. Dr. Thompson has led teams collaboratively toward success in all these areas.

Before joining OU, Dr. Thompson was Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs at Wright State University (WSU). She oversaw the University’s six colleges and other units such as the Boonshoft School of Medicine, Wright State’s Lake Campus in Celina, Research and Sponsored Programs, the University Libraries, and Counseling and Wellness Services. She was also Professor of Public Health at the Boonshoft School of Medicine.

At WSU, she led key initiatives within the academic enterprise to enhance student success, such as creating a new College of Graduate Programs and Honors Studies, launching a new Center for Health Professions, requiring midterm grades, creating a 3-credit first-year seminar, and implementing a multiterm registration process. She increased several student success measures impacting academic performance and retention through her leadership. She also spearheaded efforts to modernize and prioritize academic and curricular programming.

Dr. Thompson went to WSU from The University of Toledo (UT/Ohio), where she served as the Senior Vice Provost of Academic Affairs and Acting Dean of the College of Graduate Studies and previously as the Vice Provost of Faculty Affairs.

A Certified Health Education Specialist and Fellow in Eta Sigma Gamma, the National Health Education Honorary Organization, she was the co-founder/director of the UToledo Center for Health and Successful Living—an interdisciplinary hub for community engagement that provides prevention-based programming and mammography for more than 7,000 people in Northwest Ohio.

In 2019, Dr. Thompson received the Dorothy Green Medical Mutual of Ohio Achievement Award for her outreach work with underserved cancer survivors. She also led the WSU and Community Partners Mental Health Task Force.

A recognized leader in her field and academe, Dr. Thompson is the former national president of the Eta Sigma Gamma Professional Health Organization and the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE).

She has published over 80 peer-reviewed journal articles, secured over $1.7 million in grant funding, and presented her scholarship nationally and internationally. 

In addition to her 14 years of service at UT, she was a faculty member at Mississippi State University and Kent State University.

She earned her B.S. in Public Health from Central Michigan University, an M.S.Ed. in Public Health, and a Ph.D. in Health Education from UT.