Nancy A. Marlin began serving as Provost at San Diego State University in July 1998. Previously she served as Provost of the University of Northern Iowa and before that as Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Missouri. She is a Professor of Psychology and her research focused on animal learning processes. A native of New York, she holds a B.A. from SUNY Binghamton, a M.S. from Oklahoma State University and Ph.D. in experimental psychology from The City University of New York. She also was awarded an Honorary MBA from the Universidad de Valparaiso, Chile, in 2002.
The Provost at SDSU is the chief academic officer of the university and provides the leadership required to achieve the highest standards in teaching, scholarship, creative activities and service. The Provost is a key participant in all major university policy-establishing, coordinating, and implementing academic goals, educational policy, curriculum planning and development, program review, funding support, resource allocation, and personnel actions pertaining to faculty and academic staff. She works with representatives of the faculty within the context of the University Senate and of a statewide collective bargaining agreement. She acts as the President's designee on campus, local, regional, state, national and CSU committees, and acts as President in the absence of the President. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the SDSU Research Foundation.