Meet the Executive Vice President and Provost
Janna Arney earned her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University and held faculty appointments at Bowling Green University and California State University Northridge before joining The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College (UTB/TSC). A native of Brownsville, Texas, Dr. Arney returned to the Rio Grande Valley in 2002 as an assistant professor in the School of Business. She began her administrative career with the University in 2006 where she served as Associate Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs. In this role, she also co-chaired the transition team coordinating the separation of the UTB/TSC partnership and was subsequently appointed as the UT Brownsville Chief Executive Officer by UT System through the closure of UT Brownsville.
In 2014, Dr. Arney was selected to serve as the first Vice President for Operations and Chief of Staff to the President for The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and had direct oversight for Human Resources, Legal Affairs, University Marketing and Communications, Security and Campus Affairs, Strategic Analysis and Institutional Reporting, Institutional Compliance, and Information Security.
In 2017, Dr. Arney was promoted to Deputy President, working directly with the President on all institutional initiatives while continuing to have direct oversight for the areas of Institutional Compliance, Legal Affairs, Strategic Analysis and Institutional Reporting, and University Marketing and Communications.
In June 2020, President Guy Bailey appointed Dr. Arney to serve as Interim Provost. In this role, she was charged to reintegrate the divisions of Academic Affairs, Health Affairs, Student Success, Strategic Enrollment and Student Affairs, and Research, Graduate Studies, and New Program Development into a larger unit.
In her current role as Executive Vice President and Provost, Dr. Arney has direct oversight for the 11 academic and health colleges and library as well as Strategic Enrollment and Student Affairs, Student Success, Secondary Educational Partnerships, University Marketing and Communications, Strategic Analysis and Institutional Reporting, Institutional Accreditation and Program Development, Curriculum and Institutional Assessment, Faculty Success and Diversity, B3 Institute, Faculty Ombudsman, and Victim Advocacy and Violence Prevention.