University of New Mexico Interim Provost Craig White announced the appointment of Associate Professor Pamela Cheek as Interim Associate Provost for Curriculum and Assessment effective immediately and extending through June 30, 2018. 

“I am delighted to have Professor Cheek join the Office of the Provost," said White. "Pamela’s distinguished academic career, service as chair in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, commitment to UNM, and service to its curriculum and shared governance mission is outstanding." 

Pamela Cheek
Associate Professor Pamela Cheek

Cheek was selected following an internal search that attracted a number of distinguished candidates and involved a robust search process. 

“I feel honored to have been selected as Associate Provost for Curriculum and Assessment and to join the team in the Provost’s Office,” said Cheek. “I think educational opportunity is the foundation for equity and social justice. Curriculum and assessment is a bit of a mouthful. For me, it means drawing on faculty, staff, student and community knowledge to ensure broad access to a transformative education.” 

Cheek came to UNM in 1996, drawn here by the beauty of New Mexico and by the opportunity to teach students who bring rich cultural experiences to the classroom. After receiving an A.B. with honors from Harvard, she was awarded a prestigious Mellon Fellowship in support of her doctoral work in comparative literature at Stanford University.

Cheek is currently an associate professor of French in the department of Foreign Languages & Literatures where she has taught courses ranging from beginning French to graduate literary and cultural theory. The author of a book on the Enlightenment literature of travel and encounter, she recently completed a new manuscript: “Heroines and Local Girls: The Transnational Emergence of Women’s Writing.”

She has worked on a range of initiatives at UNM, from serving as a member of the Committee on Governance and as chair of her department to leading a Faculty Senate task force on general education. When she’s not busy with research or preparing to teach, Cheek steals away to explore the mountains and rivers of the Southwest with her family and friends. 

Questions or comments can be directed to provost@unm.edu.