Northern Arizona University

Liz Grobsmith
Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs

Office of the Provost
PO Box 4120
Flagstaff, AZ
86011-4120

Phone: 928-523-2230
Fax: 928-523-2344
E-Mail: Liz.Grobsmith@nau.edu

 

Liz Grobsmith, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs at Northern Arizona University since 2002, has enjoyed a successful career in administration, in the classroom and in research.

At NAU, Grobsmith has concentrated efforts on building academic quality, regularizing processes for personnel review, diversifying the faculty, promoting NAU’s commitment to undergraduate education and enhancing communication through various means, including a regular newsletter from the provost titled On the Academic Side.

She has developed programs to strengthen assessment of student learning, revise and strengthen the academic program review process, support faculty travel and support colleges’ and the university’s commitment to research.

Grobsmith came to NAU from Utah State University, where she was dean of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Previously, she was dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

She began her career in higher education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1971 as an instructor in the Department of Anthropology. By 1991 she was promoted to full professor. She also served at UN-L as assistant dean in the College of Arts and Sciences, assistant vice chancellor for Academic Affairs, director of Summer Sessions and associate vice chancellor for Academic Affairs.

Grobsmith is the author of Indians in Prison: A Study of Incarcerated Native Americans, which was selected for the CHOICE, 1994 Outstanding Academic Award. She also is the author of Lakota of the Rosebud: A Contemporary Ethnography and numerous journal articles, book chapters and book reviews.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in music from The Ohio State University and master’s and doctoral degrees in anthropology from the University of Arizona.

Her background as an anthropologist with a special emphasis on American Indian culture is a particularly good fit with NAU’s commitment to serving Native Americans and Hispanic populations in the state of Arizona.