Shala Mills
Associate Provost for Academic Planning & Learning Innovation and Dean of Graduate, Professional & Interdisciplinary Learning and Continuing & Online Education
Dr. Shala Mills was appointed assistant vice president of graduate and extended learning in 2017 and to her current roles as associate provost and dean in 2021.
In her role, Mills provides leadership in the area of Academic Planning and to programs in graduate studies and the interdisciplinary BA: General Studies as well as continuing and online education. She works closely with academic departments across the University, as well as with the Center for International Programs, and the Office of Instructional Technology to support the University’s goals of providing high-quality educational opportunities to a wide range of students. She reports to the Provost.
Mills holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Baylor University in Texas and she earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Kansas.
Mills has extensive experience in curricular initiatives, having previously served as director of liberal education and chair and professor of political science at Fort Hays State University in Kansas. She helped revise the FHSU’s Liberal and General Education Program, led the Department of Political Science as it expanded its undergraduate program into the online environment, and shepherded growth in several primarily online interdisciplinary Masters of Liberal Studies and Masters of Professional Studies programs. She also created the Political Science Department’s dual degree program with Shenyang Normal University in China.
Mills has served as one of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities’ (AASCU) Global Engagement Scholars, as the National Coordinator for the AASCU Global Challenges Project, and spent her 2015-16 sabbatical serving as the National Manager for AASCU’s Blended Course Consortium. Her most recent publications and presentations have covered global challenges, academic assessment and leadership, and new models for educating students.
Mills also served on the National Steering Committee for AASCU American Democracy Project and was the recipient of the AASCU American Democracy Project Barbara Burch Award for Faculty Leadership in Civic Engagement in 2017.
