Marisa Anne Pagnattaro, a seasoned administrator and distinguished professor, has been named interim vice president for instruction at the University of Georgia, effective Feb. 1.
Marisa Pagnattaro
Pagnattaro has served as vice provost for academic affairs since 2019 and is a Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Terry College of Business.
“Dr. Pagnattaro has a demonstrated record of success in working collaboratively with units across campus to advance strategic initiatives and student success,” said S. Jack Hu, the university’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “I am confident she will provide outstanding leadership of the Office of Instruction while we conduct a search for the university’s next vice president for instruction.”
The vice president for instruction search will commence this semester, and more information about the search will be posted at provost.uga.edu.
As vice provost for academic affairs, Pagnattaro assists with all matters of academic administration, policy and planning, and acts on behalf of the provost when he is not available. She chairs the UGA Arts Council and oversees the Georgia Museum of Art, Institute for Higher Education and the Performing Arts Center. She also works closely with the Office of Global Engagement.
Prior to being named vice provost, Pagnattaro was the I.W. Cousins Professor of Business Ethics and associate dean for research and graduate programs in the Terry College. In this role, she led strategic planning efforts related to research and graduate education, directed the college’s international programs, and chaired its Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board.
Her scholarship focuses on international trade and business ethics, and she is the author or co-author of more than 30 journal articles and book chapters and numerous shorter works. She is the author of “In Defiance of the Law: From Anne Hutchinson to Toni Morrison,” which explores literary depictions of the American legal system. She is the co-author of three additional books, including a widely used business law textbook. In addition, Pagnattaro served as the editor-in-chief of the American Business Law Journal and was president of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business.
Pagnattaro was a 2016-2017 fellow of the SEC Academic Leadership Development Program and was an inaugural fellow in the University’s Women’s Leadership Development Program. She has been an active member of University Council, serving on its Executive Committee from 2012 to 2015 and on four additional committees from 2008 to 2017. Her additional interdisciplinary committee work includes having served on the Executive Committee of the UGA Teaching Academy and on the Faculty Advisory Board for the Center for Asian Studies in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English from Colgate University and holds a J.D. from New York Law School and Ph.D. in English from UGA.
Rahul Shrivastav, who has led of the Office of Instruction since 2015, announced in December that he would step down as vice president of instruction to accept the position of executive vice president and provost at Indiana University Bloomington.