Georita M. Frierson, Ph.D.

Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs

University of Southern Maine

As of June 1, 2023, University of Southern Maine community welcomes Dr. Georita M. Frierson as their new Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. Provost Frierson comes most recently from Seton Hall University in South Orange, NJ, where she served as the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. She also served as the chair of Seton Hall’s Seeds of Innovation Implementation Coordination Committee, which addressed the institutional sustainability component of the University’s Strategic Plan, Harvest Our Treasures.

Previously, Dr. Frierson was Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the School of Arts, Sciences, and Education at D’Youville University in Buffalo, NY. Before holding that role, while a member of the Psychology faculty at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ, she launched and oversaw initial accreditation of the APA-accredited-on-contingency Ph.D. program in clinical psychology and was its inaugural program director. Simultaneously, she held the position of Department Head, Department of Psychology. Prior to her time at Rowan, she was a faculty member in the Psychology Department at Howard University, a Historically Black College/University (HBCU) where she was the program director (and oversaw the APA re-accreditation) of the longest-running Ph.D. program in clinical psychology at a HBCU. At Seton Hall, she raised over $2.5M through philanthropic initiatives, developed new programs in applied physics and engineering and health sciences, and restructured the Dean’s office to bring more faculty to the leadership table budget-neutrally.

Dr. Frierson is a proud alumna holding a B.A. with honors in Psychology from Hampton University, which is a HBCU. Dr. Frierson holds a M.A. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (with a specialization in health psychology) from The Ohio State University. She completed her residency and post-doctoral studies at the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University. Dr. Frierson has served on multiple committees for the American Psychological Association, such as the Commission on Accreditation (from 2016-2021), which she chaired in 2021. A licensed clinical psychologist, she has dedicated her life to African American women’s mental and physical health in her research activity, especially as it relates to cancer diagnoses and access to psychological services. Dr. Frierson is committed to mentoring students and faculty from all backgrounds to increasingly diversify the academic community.