As Montclair State University’s Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Junius J. Gonzales, M.D., M.B.A., is designated the second highest ranking university official and leads the university’s academic programs for teaching, research, scholarship and creative inquiry and service in ten schools and colleges, and is responsible for academic planning, new initiatives in teaching and learning, faculty and academic staff development, and the libraries. He also oversees institutional assessment and accreditation, office of research, and student success efforts through University College, academic student services (e.g., tutoring), and special student programs such as Upward Bound and EOF. He served as New York Institute of Technology’s provost and vice president for Academic Affairs from 2018-2022. Dr. Gonzales is an avid champion of student success and an enthusiastic leader and supporter of innovative recent programs that can reduce equity gaps for student achievement. He is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions. Most recent examples include NYC Hispanic Chamber of Commerce 2021 Educational Excellence Award, One of the NY State’s Responsible 100, Diversity in Business Award, Nassau County’s Hispanic Education Advocate of the Year, and the Long Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Award for Academic Excellence. He is also currently on the board of directors for the national Association of Chief Academic Officers.
Gonzales has held high-level leadership roles in academia, federal government, and the private sector. He served as chief academic officer and senior vice president for Academic Affairs at the 17-campus University of North Carolina System from January 2015 through May 2018 and was interim president of the system from January to March 2016. As the UNC System’s top academic officer, he was responsible for overseeing academic planning and budgeting, student affairs, sponsored programs and research, faculty support, licensure and institutional research, and community engagement. For four years, he served as provost and vice president of academic affairs at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP)—one of the nation’s most recognized Hispanic Serving Institutions (now R1)— and led the institution to receive several national awards. He was the founding dean of the College of Behavioral & Community Sciences and executive director of the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute at the University of South Florida (USF). Before that, his deep and broad experiences were cultivated in different settings: academia (Georgetown University, USF, UTEP), the federal government (National Institutes of Health), and the private, for-profit sector.
Gonzales has performed national service with recent appointments on the Executive Committee of the Council on Academic Affairs for APLU, Harvard’s COACHE National Advisory Committee, a National Academies STEM Work Group, and on federal agency advisory councils (e.g., SAMHSA, AHRQ). He has also received significant research funding over $15 million as PI or co-PI from federal agencies (e.g., NIH, CDC, AHRQ, DoEd) and private funders (e.g., Paso Del Norte Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation). He has published in the areas of health disparities, mental health, research infrastructure, community partnered participatory research, and non-cognitive factors in undergraduate students. He holds an A.B. from Brown University, an M.D. with honors from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. with honors from the University of Maryland. A psychiatrist by training, he completed his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health.