Saundra F. DeLauder is the Provost and Chief Academic Officer of Delaware State University. She is the sixth permanent Provost since the University created the executive academic leadership position in the late 1990s, and she is the first woman to hold the post. Dr. DeLauder assumed the position after serving as the Interim Provost from January – May, 2020 and as the Vice Provost from August 2017 through 2019. She was the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Research from her 2013 arrival at the University until 2017.
During her tenures as Vice Provost and Interim Provost, Dr. DeLauder provided leadership in the areas of faculty affairs, academic standards and requirements, new degree programs, strategic planning, key performance indicators monitoring, the Delaware Institute of Science and Technology, the offices of Institutional Research and Sponsored Programs, and other areas.
Prior to her arrival at Del State, Dr. DeLauder’s 26-year career in higher education began in 1994 as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Morgan State University. She then returned to her home state in 1996 to join the faculty of North Carolina Central University, where by 2013 she reached the rank of full Professor of Chemistry. During those NCCU professorship years, she also served stints as the Chemistry Department Interim Chair, Associate and Interim Dean of the College of Science and Technology, and Interim Dean of the School of Graduate Studies.
Dr. DeLauder’s distinction as a trailblazer goes back to her time at NCCU where she was the first tenured female Chemistry Professor and the first to become a full Professor. A native of Greensboro, N.C., Dr. DeLauder has a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry with a minor in Mathematics from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (1983), a Master of Science in Physical Chemistry from North Carolina A&T University (1986), and a Doctor of Philosophy from Howard University (1992). She was also an American Society for Engineering Education Postdoctoral Fellow at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. from 1993-1994.