Valeda Dent, Ph.D.

Vice Provost for the Libraries, the Michael C. Carlos Museum, and the Center for Digital Scholarship

Emory University

Valeda Dent, Ph.D. is currently the Inaugural Vice Provost for the Libraries, the Michael C. Carlos Museum, and the Center for Digital Scholarship at Emory University. She was previously Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs (Acting) and Vice President, Student Success & Learning Innovation at Hunter College in New York City. Prior to that, she served as University Librarian, Dean, and full professor at St. John’s University in New York. She holds an M.S.W. and M.I.L.S. from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in Information Science from the Palmer School at Long Island University. 

A lifelong researcher with numerous peer-reviewed articles, books, and book chapters, her primary research interests include the impact of chronic poverty on rural economic development; rural libraries in Africa and related literacy and reading habits; ethnographic approaches to understanding the user experience; and pervasive technologies. Dr. Dent has published a number of books, including one of the most comprehensive research compilations on rural African libraries – Rural Community Libraries in Africa: Challenges and Impacts – with co-authors Dr. Geoff Goodman and Dr. Michael Kevane. Dr. Dent is the co-founder of the non-profit Rural Village Libraries Research Network and her work in Africa has been published in a wide variety of academic journals and presented internationally at conferences in South Africa, Burkina Faso, China, South Korea, Argentina, the United Kingdom, Greece, Ireland, Uganda, Canada, the Netherlands, and Swaziland, to name just a few. 

Professionally, Dr. Dent has had the privilege of serving as an administrator and a faculty member at a number of institutions, including Rutgers University, King’s College London, and Oxford University. Dr. Dent currently serves on the advisory board for the University of Michigan’s School of Information, on the Board of Directors for the Global Village Project in Decatur, GA, as a Trustee for the Center for the Advancement and Study of International Education (CASIE), and on the Board of Directors for Friends of African Village Libraries. 

A former marathoner, Dr. Dent now practices and teaches yoga in her spare time. Dr. Dent and her husband Dr. Geoff Goodman currently live in Atlanta with their 11 year old daughter Carlyn.