Welcome to Academic Affairs

Provost's Profile

William A. Covino became Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Fresno State in July 2009, after serving as Provost at California State University, Stanislaus, and as Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at Florida Atlantic University. He has also held faculty positions at the University of Illinois at Chicago and San Diego State University. Covino’s administrative priorities and accomplishments have included developing and expanding distinctive academic programs, building greater support for applied scholarly research, improving student learning outcomes, increasing fundraising and partnership opportunities, strengthening the University’s commitment to intellectual and cultural diversity, and encouraging community engagement across the curriculum.  His undergraduate and graduate teaching has included courses on the history and theory of rhetoric, literacy, imagination, and persuasion, and his scholarly record features numerous chapters, articles, and reviews, as well as five books, including The Art of Wondering; Magic, Rhetoric, and Literacy;and The Elements of Persuasion.  He received a PhD in English from the University of Southern California in 1981.