Provost’s Office

Dr. Ravi Krovi

Ravi Krovi is Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs at Weber State University. He also holds an academic appointment as a Professor in Supply Chain and Management Information Systems in the Goddard School of Business and Economics. The Provost serves as the university’s chief academic officer and provides oversight and strategic direction to the seven degree granting colleges, the Stewart Library, and all academic and student support functions.

Krovi is a champion of student and faculty success and a big believer in meeting students where they are. He guides the university in implementing its strategic plan focusing on student access, affordability, retention and completion. Prior to joining the Wildcat community, he was the Dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Akron for ten years where he led a transformational student success campaign. During this time, the college was recognized as a nationally ranked business school with increases in the placement rate, four year graduation rate, and the number of honors students and Fulbright Scholars. His prior administrative stints included service as an academic department chair and technology center director.

Krovi has published in several academic journals and has been an invited speaker at several conferences. He has consulted with businesses on projects in digital transformation, business analytics, strategic planning, and technology innovation. He is currently a Trustee of the Ogden Regional Medical Center and serves as an advisory board member at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. He has also served as a business accreditation review team leader for the American Association of Colleges and Schools of Business, and in the I-CORPS Technology Commercialization Program Advisory Team for the National Science Foundation.

Krovi holds a doctoral degree in Management Information Systems and Decision Sciences, a master's degree in Mathematical Sciences with tracks in Computer Science and Statistics from the University of Memphis, and a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Baroda, India. He is an avid sports fan and enjoys reading, golf and pickleball. He lives in Ogden, Utah, with his wife who is a professor of special education. They are the proud parents of two adult daughters, Avanti and Ayesha.

Lisa Allen

Lisa Allen’s commitment to Weber State University spans over 35 years, marking a distinguished career dedicated to the institution. In her role as Director of Academic Finance and Administration, Lisa provides expertise in resource allocation, budget management, and strategic data analysis. She is a trusted advisor to the Provost, university administration, colleges, and departments, supporting their financial needs and meeting budgetary requirements.

Throughout her career, Lisa has approached tasks and challenges with a unique blend of analytical rigor and creative problem-solving to help solve critical issues and drive institutional initiatives forward.

Lisa’s ties to Weber State run deep through her professional contributions and as an alumna who proudly received her education from the institution. This deep-rooted connection underscores her enduring commitment to the university’s mission and values.

Beyond her professional responsibilities, Lisa enjoys spending time with her family and cherishes her role as “Gram” to her granddaughter. She also enjoys pursuing her passion for running and engaging in spirited games of racquetball and pickleball.

Dr. Eric Amsel

Eric Amsel oversees Undergraduate Studies, Academic Support, and Institutional Effectiveness (USASIE), which focuses on academic quality and student support and includes university-wide programs. He has been at Weber State since 1996, spending a decade as a faculty member in the Psychology Department, a decade as chair of the Psychology Department, and as Associate Provost and Vice Provost since 2016. His research is widely published, focusing on cognitive development from early childhood to adulthood and addressing such topics as symbolic play, emotional regulation, scientific and mathematical reasoning, and the forms of thinking used by lawyers and psychologists. Eric has been honored with various institutional, regional, and national awards and recognitions.

Dr. Ivana Fredotovic

Dr. Ivana Fredotovic brings rich and diverse experience in higher education, institutional research, and analytics to her role as the inaugural Chief Data Officer at Weber State University (WSU), where she joined in April 2023. Committed to enhancing student success through a comprehensive approach to data and analytics, Ivana leverages her prior experiences as Director of Research and Data Analytics at Miami Dade College and in various institutional research roles at Barry University, FL. Holding a Doctorate in Leadership and Education from Barry University, Ivana actively engages in national and regional professional organizations, advisory boards, and community-based research projects, focusing on data literacy, organizational transparency, and data governance.

Throughout her career, Ivana has championed collaborative efforts and strategic priorities to foster a data-informed culture, supporting impactful strategies and proactively strengthening student success. Her leadership philosophy, rooted in multiculturalism and diversity, aligns closely with WSU's mission and values, driving her commitment to advancing data architecture, literacy, and governance across the campus to promote student success. As CDO, Ivana is pivotal in leading data administration efforts and cultivating a data ecosystem and culture that facilitates data-informed decision-making university-wide, ensuring WSU's continued commitment to excellence in education and student support.

Dr. James Hedges

An expert in strategic innovation, James Hedges is a learning leader who oversees the institution's entrepreneurial and innovative arm, the Division of Online & Continuing Education. Driven by a longstanding passion for developing educational solutions to meet future workforce and stakeholder needs, he is a campus leader in non-credit to credit bridges, corporate partnerships, stackable credentials, and prior learning assessment.

Serving in the capacity of dean for Weber State University’s Division of Online & Continuing Education since 2022, he has extensive experience in competency-based education and creating educational pathways to enable mid-career professionals the opportunities to upskill and reskill. He and his team do this through mapping degree programs to labor market trends and collaborating across campus to build programming that fits students’ lives.

During his tenure, James developed a new strategic plan for the division and a campus-wide strategy for online education. He has also reorganized the division to create a more efficient business development and program creation process that is more responsive to employer needs. He has deep relationship-building experience with widely recognized companies and the facilitators who connect them to higher education, and he looks forward to maximizing those relationships with this new structure.

James has also led his division in creating an actionable strategy for online education. The strategy is built upon the pillars of quality, access and demand, program expansion and support. He partnered across campus to launch four new fully online programs in the fall of 2023. In addition, he worked with Weber State stakeholders to institute a new online tuition model for out-of-state students.

James believes that Weber State's unified commitment to innovative leadership within the changing landscape of higher education is crucial to executing the institution's mission.

Dr. Brenda Kowalewski

Dr. Brenda Marsteller Kowalewski is Vice Provost for High-Impact Educational Experiences, Faculty Excellence, International and Graduate Programs at Weber State University (WSU) in Ogden, Utah. She earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Maryland at College Park in 1995. She has worked in higher education at Weber State University ever since first as a faculty member in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology (1995-2016), where she served as program coordinator (2004-2006) before assuming a quasi-administrative role in community-based education (2006). In 2016, Kowalewski moved from faculty to a full-time administrator role in the Provost’s Office.

Kowalewski’s most significant administrative contributions to Weber State University include co-founding Weber State’s nationally recognized Center for Community Engaged Learning (2007) and serving as principal writer for both of Weber State’s successful applications for the Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement (2008, 2015). In 2016, Kowalewski convened seven community anchor institutions and numerous ally community organizations to establish the Ogden Civic Action Network (OgdenCAN) to address health, housing and education challenges in the East Central Ogden neighborhood. Kowalewski established the Digital Fluency Council (2017) and later the Digital District (2021) at WSU to promote a culture of digital fluency among students, faculty and staff. Under Kowalewski’s leadership Weber State University became an Adobe Creative Campus (2021). Additionally, Kowalewski and a team of dedicated campus faculty and staff launched the Wildcat Advantage program (2022) incentivizing students to engage in at least two high impact educational experiences (HIEEs) before graduating. And with the support of the high impact offices and centers across campus, Kowalewski designed and implemented an infrastructure for designating HIEEs to help students more easily identify and access high impact experiences at WSU. These designations have created a critical data architecture that allows WSU to measure the impact of HIEEs on student Success.

Dr. Kowalewski is a Brady Presidential Distinguished Professor of Sociology who has conducted research focused on gender role attitudes, gender wage gap, and gender stereotypes. She has conducted community-based research projects with and for numerous community organizations, including Youth Impact, United Way of Northern Utah, Mt. Ogden Junior High School, and the Ogden Housing Authority. Dr. Kowalewski has authored numerous articles, book chapters and teaching toolkits for implementing community engaged learning pedagogy in college courses. Kowalewski has won multiple awards and national acclaim for her community engaged scholarly work and leadership in higher education.

Dr. Jessica Oyler

Dr. Jessica Oyler has over 15 years of experience at Weber State University and has held several key positions. These include serving as the Associate Provost for Enrollment Management and Student Success, Assistant Vice President for Human Resources, Executive Director of Student Affairs Strategic Initiatives, and Student Affairs Assessment Coordinator. She is also an adjunct faculty member for the First Year Experience and Master of Education programs.

Throughout her career, Jessica has spearheaded numerous student success initiatives at Weber State through collaborations with staff and faculty across campus. She staunchly supports the institution's commitment to equity and inclusion, high-quality educational experiences, open-access education, and faculty and staff engagement in the community. She has co-authored and co-edited two books on assessment in student affairs and presented at numerous national conferences.

Jessica earned her Bachelor's degree in Agricultural Education from the University of Arkansas, her Master's in Postsecondary Educational Leadership from San Diego State University, and her Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from the University of Utah. Dr. Oyler enjoys hiking, golfing, and watching various sports in her free time. She has four children: a Weber State graduate, two current Weber State students, and one future Wildcat.

Julie Snowball

Julie Snowball has spent the majority of her career at Weber State University (WSU) serving in a number of capacities, including career and technical education, community and economic development, university advancement, continuing education and WSU liaison to the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Olympics. In her current position as AVP of Strategic Regional Partnerships, Julie is responsible for creating meaningful partnerships for the university to assist students in helping them reach their full potential both in and out of the classroom. In this work, she oversees the WSU Davis campus, career and technical education, regional career pathway development, post-secondary dual enrollment, educational partnerships and aerospace and defense relations.

Julie is active in the community and currently serves as the Chair of the Top of Utah Military Affairs Committee, Chair-elect of the Davis Chamber of Commerce, and member of the Executive Board of the Ogden-Weber Chamber of Commerce. She is also an Honorary Commander with the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base and is active on many other community boards and organizations.

As an alum of Weber State University, Julie received her Associates and Bachelor of Integrated Studies degrees. She also received her MPA degree and doctoral studies from the University of Utah. In her spare time, Julie enjoys spending time with her family, supporting the community, gardening and golfing.

James Taylor

James Taylor is a seasoned professional in the realm of academic research, sponsored projects, and technology commercialization, with a career that spans over two decades. As the Executive Director of Sponsored Projects and Technology Commercialization at Weber State University, James leads a dynamic team dedicated to fostering research excellence, securing funding for groundbreaking projects, and translating innovative technologies from research labs to the marketplace.

James holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from Utah State University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Utah. He is an active member of several professional organizations, including the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) and the Society of Research Administrators (SRA).