Vincent Price ’79, who currently serves as the provost of the University of Pennsylvania, will become the 10th president of Duke University. Price, who has served as provost at Penn since 2009, is also the Steven H. Chaffee professor of communication in the Annenberg School for Communication and a professor of political science at Penn. He is set to replace current President Richard Brodhead starting July 1, 2017. “I’m thrilled to be part of Duke at a moment in time when this nation and world need universities more than ever,” Price said in one of a series of YouTube videos that Duke published with the announcement. “We need educated and thoughtful, inclusive communities of people who are dedicated to identifying and solving our most challenging problems.” As provost at Penn, Price is in charge of overseeing the university’s 12 schools and colleges as well as student affairs, athletics and the arts. Price has been influential in giving Penn a global presence—helping launch the 2015 Penn Wharton China Center in Beijing and hiring a vice provost for global initiatives. “The world is shrinking. We cannot just be a great national university—we need to be a great global university,” Price said in a video. “And globalism means diversity, it means inclusiveness, it means bringing the community of the world together here today—and to be honest bringing Durham to the world, bringing Duke to the world, extending our community as broadly as we can.”

Price received both his Ph.D. and master’s degrees from Stanford University in 1987 and 1985 respectively, after completing his undergraduate studies at Santa Clara University in 1979. Price’s scholarly work has focused on public opinion in politics. He served as editor-in-chief of a journal dedicated to the subject—”Public Opinion Quarterly”—and has authored a globally-known book on the subject. His wife, Annette Price ’81, is also a graduate of Santa Clara University and has worked in event planning at the Annenberg Public Policy Center at Penn.