Dr. Reynold Verret

Dr. Verret presently serves as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Savannah State University. He works with the President and members of the Cabinet to achieve strategic goals of the university and provides vision and leadership to assure that academic priorities are addressed and implemented. These include academic success of students and enhancement of academic programs and promotion of cooperative relationships with neighboring institution and other partners.

As Provost at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania and as Dean of the Misher College of Arts and Sciences University of the Sciences in Philadelphia and Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, he led the revisions of university-wide general education curricula, developed study abroad programs, established collaborative agreements with neighboring institutions at the K-12 and higher education levels, instituted new academic programs and oversaw the relocation of major programs to a new science and technology center. Dr. Verret also served on faculty at Tulane University and also at Clark Atlanta University, where he was also chair of the department of chemistry.

As a biochemist and immunologist, Dr. Verret’s research has addressed the cytotoxicity of immune cells, and on biosensors and biomarkers. He has published in the fields of biological chemistry and immunology. At the University of the Sciences, he and other colleagues established a knowledge network on social exclusion in support of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health within the World Health Organization.

Throughout his career, he has worked to increase the number of US students pursuing advanced study in the STEM disciplines, especially from underrepresented groups. He has labored to mitigate the shortage of qualified science and math teachers in K-12.

He has served on many professional organizations and advisory bodies, including study sections of the National Institutes of Health and currently on the Board of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council. He has received awards and fellowships for teaching and scholarship.

Educated by the Sisters of St. Joseph at Nativity of Our Blessed Lord in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of New York and by the Jesuits at Brooklyn Preparatory, Dr. Verret went on to receive his undergraduate degree cum laude in biochemistry from Columbia University and the Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. To these, were added postdoctoral experiences as fellow at the Howard Hughes Institute for Immunology at Yale and Center for Cancer Research at MIT.