Patrick J. Sims

Since becoming provost at UNCSA in August 2020, Patrick J. Sims has made unprecedented strides for the university in collaboration with Chancellor Brian Cole in the areas of interdisciplinary collaboration, health and wellness, institutional sustainability, and more as reflected in the university’s 2022-27 strategic plan, “UNCSA Forward.”

As provost, Sims is the chief academic officer of the university and is responsible for providing academic and administrative leadership in all areas related to teaching and student learning outcomes.

Immediately upon arriving at UNCSA, he collaborated with the deans of the arts schools to craft school-specific COVID-19 guidelines during the worldwide pandemic.  

His continuing concern for the health and safety of students led to a process, known as the Collaborative Scheduling Initiative, or CSI, to revamp the academic and performance calendars to create a healthier work-life balance for students as well as faculty and staff.
 
In a major achievement, Provost Sims successfully implemented rank promotion salary increases that were not originally granted with the adoption of rank promotion in 2010-11. He also successfully conducted national searches for deans of the schools of Dance, Drama, Filmmaking, and Music, and the Division of Liberal Arts.

As part of an important institutional objective, Sims oversaw the review and management of the Fifth-Year Report for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) Commission on Colleges, highlighting the progress on major curricular changes at UNCSA. He is also leading the university’s all-important 10-Year Report for UNCSA’s reaffirmation of accreditation.
 
To recruit, train and support talented students in the arts who might be missed through traditional avenues, Sims helped launch a partnership with the national Posse Foundation in a new initiative conceived in collaboration with Lin-Manuel Miranda (“Hamilton,” “In the Heights”). Selected Arts Posse Scholars receive full scholarships as well as mentorship throughout their college careers.

To foster greater access to secondary and postsecondary arts education, Provost Sims prioritized engagement with the surrounding community in Winston-Salem, and middle schools throughout the state of North Carolina, to create a pipeline of emerging talent to attend UNCSA. This will address a gap in access for students who have fewer and fewer opportunities for arts education.
 
Coming from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Sims was a professor of theater with a 20-plus-year career in teaching. He was the first African American in the history of UW-Madison’s Department of Theatre and Drama to rise through the ranks and achieve the title of full professor. 

In addition to his work at UW-Madison, Sims was an education artist at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Milwaukee Repertory Theatre. He received a certificate in higher education/higher education administration from Harvard University, a Master of Fine Arts in theater from UW-Milwaukee, and two bachelor’s degrees from Yale University, in psychology and theater studies.

During his tenure at UNCSA, Sims has received several honors, including being invited to serve on the North Carolina Arts Foundation; being selected for the 2021-22 cohort of Insight Winston Salem, a group of local executive leaders who discuss how they might address major social, cultural and economic challenges; and being tapped for Black Business Ink magazine’s Power 100 in 2023, during the publication’s 20th anniversary.