Meaning & use
chief academic officer
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Meaning
nouncountable
The senior administrator who is in charge of the academic programs and teaching at a college, university, or school district.
Grammar: Countable; you can say 'a chief academic officer' or 'the chief academic officer'. It is often used with a possessive: 'the university's chief academic officer'.
Patterns
- the chief academic officer of a university
- appoint someone as chief academic officer
- serve as chief academic officer
The chief academic officer announced a new set of graduation requirements for all students.
After ten years as a professor, she was promoted to chief academic officer of the university.
The chief academic officer works closely with deans and department heads to improve teaching quality.
Word forms
| plural | chief academic officers |
|---|
Common combinations
- appoint a chief academic officer
- The board voted to appoint a chief academic officer from outside the university.
- the office of the chief academic officer
- All curriculum changes must be approved by the office of the chief academic officer.
- report to the chief academic officer
- The dean of students reports directly to the chief academic officer.
- chief academic officer position
- She applied for the chief academic officer position at a small liberal arts college.
Synonyms and how they differ
- provost
- In many US universities, 'provost' is the more common title for the same role; 'chief academic officer' is more descriptive and can be used in any institution.
- academic dean
- An academic dean usually oversees one faculty or school, while a chief academic officer oversees all academic affairs across the institution.
- vice president for academic affairs
- This title is often used in US colleges and is roughly equivalent to chief academic officer, but it emphasizes the administrative rank within the president's cabinet.
Word family
- chief executive officer noun
- The top manager of a company or organization, responsible for overall operations.
- chief financial officer noun
- The senior manager in charge of financial matters in an organization.
- academic adjective
- Relating to education, schools, or scholarly study.
Commonly confused: chief academic officer or chief administrative officer? chief academic officer or dean?
chief academic officer vs chief administrative officer
A chief administrative officer manages the day-to-day operations and administration of an organization, while a chief academic officer focuses specifically on teaching, curriculum, and academic policy.
chief academic officer vs dean
A dean leads a specific school, college, or faculty within a university; a chief academic officer is a higher-level position that oversees all academic units.
Practice
Who is most likely to hold the title of chief academic officer?
Choose one answer.
The chief academic officer is the senior administrator in charge of academic affairs, such as curriculum and teaching. The budget manager would be a chief financial officer, and the other options are unrelated roles.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “chief academic officer”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.