The provost and vice president for academic affairs, Dr. Patricia Pierce Ramsey, is the primary academic officer of the University under the president.

Dr. Ramsey, a native of Surry County, VA, earned a BS in biology education from Norfolk State University in Norfolk, VA, an MS in botany from Howard University in Washington, DC, an MA in biology  from Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, and a PhD in biology  from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. She has completed leadership programs in the Millennium Leadership Institute of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), Harvard University’s Institute for Educational Management (IEM), and the CIVIC Leadership Institute in Norfolk, VA.

Dr. Ramsey is a scholar and leader with a deep commitment to excellence, a solid record in teaching, and a passion to make a difference. Her more than 20 accomplished years in higher education span public and private, historically black, and majority institutions.

As a researcher and academician, Dr. Ramsey has collected more than 110 species of the agave plant in the Sonoran Desert, served as a visiting scientist in a pharmaceutical company, and collected leaves from a 450-mile expanse of highway in the southeastern United States. She has served as a professor of biology, an implementation specialist/evaluator for a science consortium, an associate vice president for development, a vice president for academic affairs at a private university, and has served as provost and vice president for academic affairs here at Bowie State University since 2004.

During her tenure as provost at Bowie State University, Dr. Ramsey led the University’s management team in a focused effort to link the budget and planning processes (within one month of her arrival), acquired funding to implement a customer service enhancement program, established an academic advisement center, implemented provost chats that resulted in Bowie State University being selected as a case study for Microsoft, and won approval from the Board of Regents to offer the University’s first doctorate in a science discipline.

A few highlights of Dr. Ramsey’s career include: negotiating a $1.5 million award after only three months as a development officer, establishing an office of research and sponsored programs that generated $9.3 million in less than two years as an academic vice president, and running for city council and receiving more votes than the mayor of the previous election after living in the city of Williamsburg for less than six months. Dr. Ramsey was listed in Who’s Who in Higher Education Administration in 2005 and was selected by her peers in 2006 to serve as the chairperson of the Academic Officers of Color of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU).