SXU Welcomes Michael Marsden as Interim Provost
Saint Xavier University (SXU) welcomes Michael Marsden, Ph.D., as interim provost. Marsden has served in multiple academic leadership roles over the years, with several stints as interim provost, vice president and acting president, and has also served in leadership positions for various art and culture associations.
He is a member of several honor societies, including Omicron Delta Kappa, the national leadership honor society, and Phi Beta Delta, the international scholar society. Marsden received his doctorate in English from Bowling Green State University and is a published scholar, author and poet with an extensive publication record. He has received several awards, including the Distinguished Service Award from the American Culture Association and the Popular Culture Association and the American Culture Association's Governing Board Award for Outstanding Contributions to American Culture Studies.
Before taking on administrative roles, he taught English, American studies and media studies. Most recently, he served as the interim vice president for Academic Affairs at the College of St. Scholastica. Just a couple weeks into his appointment, Marsden is quickly jumping into action to begin work on his agenda.
"I am busy learning, listening, paying attention and immersing myself in the SXU community, and I hope they will be interested in working with me to accomplish the goals I have as provost, which will move the institution forward as a community," said Marsden.
Marsden was attracted to the University's mission, Catholic traditions and core values. Born and raised in Chicago and a product of the Catholic school system, he found that Saint Xavier was the perfect place for him.
"My time here is an opportunity to be of service. The core values the institution upholds are values that I hold dear and have held throughout my career. They are important to the academic life. To me, the idea of serving others, reaching out and making the world a more just and merciful place are worthwhile goals to commit oneself to," said Marsden.
Marsden has multiple plans and goals during his time as provost, including building an effective shared governance model; making timely and consequential data-informed program decisions; creating a well-functioning, representative Faculty Senate; increasing graduate credit hours and net tuition fee revenue by offering high-quality, relevant graduate programs that produce positive student learning and career outcomes; cultivating an engaging first-year experience; and developing a meaningful general education curriculum that increases student engagement, satisfaction, learning and success. Though the list is ambitious, it is not exhaustive, and Marsden is focused on the betterment of the community as a whole.
"We want to make sure we develop students in very specific ways, to enhance not only their education experience, but to help them carry their experience with them as lifelong learners. We hope we are training students not only for their careers, but so that they will be good and informed citizens and develop character. There is an opportunity to build character in everything we do, whether curriculum or co-curriculum," said Marsden.
In his free time, Marsden enjoys the outdoors as an active fisherman and hunter. He is a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary in Michigan and has a general class license as an amateur, or ham, radio operator. He also continues to write and coedit the Journal of Popular Film & Television, which he co-founded and established in 1972. He and his wife share seven children and 17 grandchildren.