About Us | Oklahoma State University

Provost and Senior Vice President

Dr. Jeanette Mendez

Oklahoma State University recently named Dr. Jeanette Mendez as provost and senior vice president following a nationwide search. Mendez has served as a member of President Shrum’s senior leadership team, co-chair of the strategy steering committee, co-chair of OSU’s Pandemic Response Team as well as co-chair of the campus-wide Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Task Force.

During her time at OSU, she also has led initiatives to increase collaborative research opportunities across academic colleges and campuses, increased online degree offerings and enrollment as well as led efforts to examine and provide recommendations for possible reforms to general education at OSU.

Learn More About Dr. Mendez

Vice Provost

Dr. Chris Francisco

Dr. Chris Francisco serves as Vice Provost in the Division of Academic Affairs at OSU, where he is also a Professor of Mathematics. He has been at OSU since 2007, having previously served as Head of the Department of Mathematics from 2018 to 2021 and as the department’s Associate Head for Lower-Division Instruction from 2012 to 2018. Francisco helped lead OSU’s efforts to reform lower-division mathematics instruction and introduce corequisite support to make college-level mathematics accessible to more students. His research is in commutative algebra, and he is interested in its connections to combinatorics and the use of computer algebra systems.

Francisco’s accolades include being named Outstanding First-Year Student Advocate by the National Resource Center for First-Year Experience and Students in Transition (2018) and receiving the OSU Regents Distinguished Teaching Award (2016), the Mathematical Association of America Oklahoma-Arkansas Section Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics (2016), and the OSU University Service Award (2015).

Learn more about Dr. Francisco