Kari Whaley

Kari Whaley is Chief Academic Officer at Vermont College of Fine Arts, a mentorship-based MFA institution and CalArts affiliate. She holds full provostial authority over curriculum, faculty governance, and academic policy, and leads academic operations for a faculty of 55 and more than 200 enrolled students. She led a comprehensive institutional restructuring that centralized administrative services and strengthened the college's operating position. She now drives a shared services partnership with CalArts spanning HR, IT, and campus facilities.

Before VCFA, she served as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Retention Services at Pasco-Hernando State College and spent five years on faculty at Full Sail University. Her career started in a different direction entirely. She worked as a Special Assistant in the office of two U.S. Senators, then taught public school in Osceola County, where she was named First Year Teacher of the Year.

Whaley holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Central Florida, where her dissertation research on professional doctorate supervision grew out of an international research project with the Erasmus+ SuperProfDoc Consortium. She also holds a master's degree in teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University, an MFA in Creative Writing from Full Sail University, and a Google AI Professional Certification completed in 2026. She is a volunteer peer reviewer for the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) and was awarded a Mellon Fellowship through the Higher Education Resource Services (HERS) Leadership Institute.