A philosopher with more than two decades in academic leadership roles is the next provost and vice president of academic affairs for Rhode Island College (RIC)
Manyul Im will leave his current position as provost and vice president at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut for his new role starting July 1. He will be RIC’s first permanent provost in roughly three years.
Im will replace Sheila Flemming, who has served as RIC’s interim provost since September 2024. Flemming, who did not apply for the permanent position, came on board after the departure of Carolynn Masters, who had served since 2022 as interim provost. Masters was appointed after the departure of Helen Tate, who was named provost in 2020.
In higher education, provosts typically serve as chief academic officers and oversee the entirety of a school’s academic affairs, faculty, curriculum development and approval, and academic support for students.
The Council on Postsecondary Education, which oversees public higher ed in Rhode Island, approved Im’s appointment Wednesday night. RIC announced the appointment in an email to the campus community Thursday.
“I entered academia because of the opportunity it gave me as a first-generation college student to go beyond the dreams of professional, economic success that my immigrant parents had for me,” Im said in a statement. “I wanted to discover the foundations for a meaningful life and try to contribute something to the lives of others.”
“I have sought out institutions of higher education where there were strong commitments to academic quality and mission-driven efforts to provide diversity and inclusivity support, professional curricular content, as well as an intellectual life of the mind in a global context,” Im continued.
Im has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley. His master’s and doctorate degrees in philosophy come from the University of Michigan. Im’s research focus lies in the wide and storied range of Chinese philosophy, plus the ancient Greeks, the history of Western philosophy and ethics. Since 2009, Im co-published a blog called Warp Weft and Way, which looks at Chinese philosophy in a comparative light.
Im graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s professional development program in 2016, according to his LinkedIn.
Im has worked in different roles at Bridgeport since 2014, including dean of arts and sciences and associate provost. During his tenure, Im led academic efforts to bolster the schools’ health sciences, human services, and nursing offerings, and he helped launch a professional development initiative for faculty, the Universal Design for Learning. Additionally, he helped tailor a recruitment strategy for international students and oversaw the creation of the Heckman Center for student support and career development.
Prior to Bridgeport, Im worked in leadership and as faculty at Fairfield University, California State University, Los Angeles, and the University of Oklahoma. As a professor at these schools, Im taught a range of courses from intro-level philosophy to Confucianism, Daosim, and seminars on broader topics like ethics, free will and human destiny.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
