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The goal of the Provost's Office is to be a resource for all of the University of Kentucky, with a primary emphasis on enhancing UK's academic excellence and its brand as an institution that focuses on the Commonwealth in ways that have a global impact.

Making those priorities a reality involves cultivating strong and long-lasting partnerships with the campus community and fostering a culture of continuous improvement, trust, collaboration, diversity and inclusion. As such, the provost's office is a resource for colleges, deans, students, faculty and staff at the University of Kentucky.

Contact Us

Phone: (859) 257-2911

Email: provost@uky.edu

Provost's Staff

Dr. Katie Cardarelli

Kathryn Cardarelli, Ph.D., M.P.H., Senior Associate Provost for Academic Affairs

In her role as senior associate provost for academic affairs, Dr. Cardarelli works in partnership with the provost to oversee all academic programs and services across the university. This includes overseeing the Office of the Registrar, University Press of Kentucky, Gaines Center for the Humanities, Chellgren Center for Undergraduate Excellence, the Center for Interprofessional and Community Health Education, the Quality Enhancement Plan and the Office of Strategic Planning and Institutional Effectiveness. She also serves as the institutional liaison for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) for accreditation. In her ten years at the University of Kentucky, Dr. Cardarelli has held a number of roles, including associate dean and interim chair in the College of Public Health and senior assistant provost in the Office for Faculty Advancement. Dr. Cardarelli is Professor of Health, Behavior & Society in the College of Public Health.

Headshot of Jennifer Greer

Jennifer Greer, Ph.D., Acting Vice Provost and Dean Liaison

Dr. Jennifer Greer has served as acting vice provost and dean liaison since September 2023. In this role, she works with UK’s 19 deans and 16 colleges on strategic initiatives and serves as the liaison between other offices and units and the academic enterprise. Dr. Greer joined UK in 2019 as dean of the College of Communication and Information, where she grew enrollment, improved retention and graduation rates and secured two major capital projects. Prior to coming to UK, Dr. Greer, a former journalist, held administrative roles as an associate provost, interim dean, acting dean, department chair and graduate director at the University of Alabama and the University of Nevada. 

Jay Miller

Justin “Jay” Miller, Ph.D., Acting Director of UK Online Education

Dr. Justin “Jay” Miller began his role as acting director of UK Online Education in March 2022. He provides oversight to the operations of UK Online Education, which has as its primary roles the support and guidance of online course and program development, consultation and training, quality assurance review of online courses and partnership with campus resources that support faculty. Dr. Miller also serves as the dean of the College of Social Work, the Dorothy A. Miller Research Professor in Social Work Education and director of the Self-Care Lab.

Photo of Padraic Kenney

Padraic Kenney, Ph.D., Dean of the Graduate School and Associate Provost for Graduate and Professional Education

Dr. Kenney is an internationally prominent historian and researcher who began serving as dean of The Graduate School in 2023. In his role, he also serves as associate provost for graduate and professional education.

Dr. Kenney previously held the position of associate dean for graduate education and for the social and historical sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University (IU) in Bloomington, Indiana. In this role, he had oversight of graduate degrees, students, departments and programs, developed and implemented a plan for $2 million in new funds to improve graduate funding, reorganized the college’s graduate office to promote recruitment and retention of graduate students from underrepresented groups and created a mentoring program to pair newly-hired faculty with senior mentors outside their department.

Before serving as an associate dean at IU, Dr. Kenney was the chair of the Department of International Studies at IU. Between 2011 and 2020, he also served as director for the Polish Studies Center, Russian and East European Institute and the Collins Living-Learning Center.

Sue Roberts

Sue Roberts, Ph.D., Associate Provost for Internationalization

As the associate provost for internationalization, Dr. Sue Roberts is the university's senior international officer or SIO. She oversees the UK International Center, including Education Abroad, International Student and Scholar Services, International Partnerships and Research, the Office of China Initiatives, the Global Health Initiative, International Recruitment, and International Health, Safety and Security. Her campus-wide role includes enhancing global learning, international research, working with each of UK’s colleges on initiatives related to global engagement and chairing the International Advisory Council. She also is professor of geography. In her 30 years at UK, Dr. Roberts has held a number of roles including department chair, director of the international studies program and associate dean for internationalization in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Headshot of Matthew E. Sanger

Matthew Sanger, Senior Executive Director

Matthew E. Sanger began his role as senior executive director in November 2022. He provides executive leadership on behalf of the provost to maximize relationships with university leadership, stakeholders, donors, alumni and others, both internally and externally. He works to align activities with university leadership partners in the president’s cabinet. He develops and operationalizes change management processes to achieve strategic project requirements as defined by the provost and other project stakeholders, including managing and directing interdisciplinary teams to meet objectives and goals. He coordinates daily operations of the Office of the Provost and provides leadership in the development and implementation of integrated business, operational, financial, facility and administrative programs, structures and policies. Prior to joining the Office of the Provost, he served as the executive director and chief of staff in the UK College of Medicine; director of administration and corporate affairs within the Office of the Executive Vice President for Health Affairs; and executive director for business operations for Beyond Blue Corporation. Sanger has been with the university since November 2012 and has more than 30 years of leadership experience in higher education and business administration.

This is a photo of Lisa Tacnnock.

Lisa Tannock, M.D., Associate Provost for Faculty Advancement

Dr. Lisa Tannock began her role as associate provost for faculty advancement in July 2023 after serving as vice dean for faculty affairs and development in the College of Medicine, where she served as the lead for virtually all issues related to faculty, in a college with more than 1,200 faculty of diverse disciplines and backgrounds including physicians, scientists and educators. She has been a tenured full professor since 2015 with a lengthy list of peer-reviewed publications, grants and an outstanding record of academic mentoring and advising to her credit. In addition to her ongoing administrative duties, she has continued an active and funded research lab as well as her clinical practice in endocrinology. She also previously held other senior administrative positions with the Department of Internal Medicine, which included faculty recruitment, development and retention for a unit with more than 300 faculty.