A proven academic leader highly familiar with Christian higher education has been appointed provost and senior vice president of academic affairs at Fresno Pacific University.
Alison R. Noble comes to FPU from Messiah University, a fellow Council for Christian Colleges & Universities member affiliated with the Brethren In Christ, a denomination related to the Mennonite Brethren, which sponsors Fresno Pacific.
Since 2010, she has served Messiah as interim provost—her current position—associate provost, assistant provost and director of faculty development, special assistant to the provost and professor of chemistry. Noblle is an accomplished scholar and educator with a publication and speaking record in chemistry, education, and faith and learning.
“I look forward to Dr. Noble’s energizing presence on the President’s Cabinet and throughout the Fresno Pacific community,” says André Stephens, FPU president. “She has much to contribute as she joins us in the work of maintaining academic rigor, meeting student needs and increasing enrollment.”
Noble will begin August 5, 2024. She takes over from Sherri Hughes, who has served as an interim in the role since spring 2023.
The first step in effective leadership is careful and reflective listening and relationship building, according to Noble.
“I seek always to promote commitment around shared purpose, celebrate successes, model respect and care to both individuals and the community, and advance the mission of the university by keeping its goals and values at the center of deliberation and decision-making,” she says. “I am excited and honored to join President Stephens and the rest of the FPU community in the transformational work taking place in the Central Valley and beyond.”
Prior to Messiah, Noble was a visiting assistant professor at George Fox University and the University of Portland and a senior process engineer at Intel Corporation. She has a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a bachelor of science in chemistry from Westmont College. She is a 2023 graduate of the Institute for Management and Leadership in Higher Education from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.
She and her husband, Niklas, have two adult children.
Fresno Pacific University is California’s Central Valley’s only accredited Christian university, connecting every student’s untapped potential with unlimited opportunity for professional, personal and ethical growth. Nonprofit and independent, FPU offers more than 100 areas of study to about 4,000 traditional undergraduate, adult degree completion, graduate and seminary students at the main campus in Southeast Fresno and throughout the Valley at regional campuses in North Fresno, Visalia, Bakersfield and Merced as well as online.
