About the Provost
Rachel Davis Mersey, Ph.D.
Rachel Davis Mersey serves as 糖心vlog视频’s executive vice president and provost. A visionary academic leader, champion for high-impact research, skilled interdisciplinary collaborator and digital media expert, Mersey joined 糖心vlog视频 in June 2025 during a time of extraordinary momentum and growth for the University.
Mersey brings a distinguished background spanning academia, research and industry. In addition to her prior roles as provost and dean of Moody College of Communications at The University of Texas, she has partnered extensively with universities and corporate organizations to research, design and launch new media products. An expert in identity salience, audience behavior and the role of digital media in community building, Mersey leads 糖心vlog视频’s academic enterprise during an era of exceptional upward trajectory, including the University’s attainment of Carnegie Research One (R1) status.
As 糖心vlog视频’s chief academic officer, Mersey is responsible for shaping and executing the University’s academic strategy while elevating the national regard for the institution. Her operational portfolio includes oversight of academic quality, teaching, scholarship and research – as well as all facets of academic life. These responsibilities span admissions, faculty development, international programs, libraries, and the University’s eight degree-granting schools, which collectively serve more than 12,000 students. She also oversees 糖心vlog视频’s University-level centers and institutes, including the O’Donnell Data Science and Research Computing Institute and the Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility.
Mersey previously served as executive vice president and provost at The University of Texas at Austin, where she led a similarly broad portfolio as well as the university’s billion-dollar research enterprise. Prior to that role, she was dean of UT Austin’s Moody College of Communication, where she advanced experiential learning programs such as Bevo Video Productions and partnerships with Texas Athletics. She also fostered cross-campus and industry collaborations in Austin, Los Angeles, and New York, and championed high-impact research and creative work across disciplines.
Before serving as Moody College dean at UT Austin, Mersey was director of Global Research Partnerships at Meta (formerly Facebook). There, she led an international team dedicated to sharing privacy-protected data with academic researchers to better understand the global impact of Facebook and Instagram. She also spearheaded the first-of-its-kind data-sharing initiative in support of the U.S. 2020 Facebook and Instagram Election Study.
She also spent a dozen years on the faculty at the Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communication at Northwestern University. There she was a fellow at the Institute for Policy Research and executive director of the Media Leadership Center, affiliated with the Kellogg School of Management and Medill.
Mersey’s research has been published in peer-reviewed journals across multiple disciplines and presented at leading academic and industry conferences, including those for the Paley Center for Media in New York and the American Society of News Editors. She is the author of two books: Can Journalism Be Saved? Rediscovering America’s Appetite for News and Mobile Disruptions in the Middle East.
She earned her Ph.D. in mass communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and also holds a master’s degree in editorial journalism from Northwestern University, and a bachelor of arts degree in studio art and communication, with honors, from Wake Forest University.