Senior Associate Provost, Colby college
Jim Sloat is Senior Associate Provost at Colby College in Waterville, Maine where he has served since 2012. While at Colby, he created the Colby Liberal Arts Symposium (CLAS), a celebration of undergraduate research with over 600 student presenters (making it the largest undergraduate research symposium at a liberal arts college).
He previously served at Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania as Associate Dean for Assessment and New Initiatives. Jim came to W&J in 2001 to serve as the founding director of the Center for Learning & Teaching. He began his career as a faculty member in political science at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he subsequently founded the Center for Public Speaking. His faculty research focused on Christian political philosophy (particularly Pauline conceptions of justice) and U.S. welfare policy. Jim did his undergraduate work at Washington and Lee University and his graduate work in political philosophy at Duke University.
Jim has been an active member of ACAD since 2007. He has facilitated over 20 workshops, roundtables, and panels at both the annual meeting and Deans’ Institute. He has focused his work on supporting assistant/associate deans. He initiated and continues to lead the New England Small College Associate Deans (NESCAD). More recently, he has created (along with two colleagues) the Associate Dean Leadership Accelerator (ADLA), an immersive orientation to the work of associate deaning. Working in partnership with ACAD, ADLA launched its initial cohort in 2025 and welcomed a new cohort in 2026. ADLA’s 41 alumni represent a diverse set of institutions across the country.
