As provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, Beverly reports to the chancellor and is responsible for the academic enterprise across the Danforth Campus. She sets the academic strategy for the university in close collaboration with the chancellor, deans, faculty, and others across campus. Beverly convenes the deans of the major academic units, as well as the leaders of numerous centers, programs, and institutes, and works closely with them to promote academic excellence and scholarly activity, facilitate cross-disciplinary connections, foster improvements and innovations in research, and further enhance Washington University’s deep commitment to student learning and success at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Prior to joining Washington University, Beverly served as the James B. Knapp dean of the Krieger School of Arts & Sciences at Johns Hopkins University since 2015. As dean she oversaw 22 highly ranked academic departments representing the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. During her tenure as dean, Beverly led the Krieger School of Arts & Sciences through a highly successful capital campaign that raised $747 million, and was instrumental in the establishment of the SNF Agora Institute, a hub for research, teaching and practice to strengthen global democracy. She oversaw enhanced strengthening and personalization of undergraduate education, including expansion of small seminar courses, greater use of active learning methods, increased research opportunities in all disciplines, and partnership with Johns Hopkins professional schools, as well as summer outreach programs. While dean, Beverly also led efforts to enhance the diversity of the faculty and graduate students and promote a more inclusive climate. These efforts included developing and supporting strategies to improve hiring practices and bolstering graduate student pipelines. Beverly was a member of the Johns Hopkins Department of Biology faculty since 1998 and served as chair 2009–14.
Beverly’s research focuses on fundamental cellular processes using yeast as a simple model system. The author of numerous scholarly publications, she was recognized in 2015 as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for her innovative work on the genetic, molecular, biochemical and biophysical mechanisms underlying the cellular process endocytosis. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation, and her many honors and awards include the Burroughs Wellcome Fund New Investigator Award in the Pharmacological Sciences and the March of Dimes Basil O’Connor Award.