Sebastián Royo
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
As Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Sebastián Royo is the chief academic officer of Clark University. Reporting to the President, the Provost oversees all undergraduate and graduate academic programs, as well as athletics, student affairs, sponsored research, university libraries, and the registrar’s office.
Sebastián Royo came to Clark in 2021 from Suffolk University, where he was vice president of international affairs and professor of political science. Throughout his 23 years at Suffolk, Royo had gained an outstanding portfolio of experience and earned high praise for his work in nearly all aspects of university leadership, having held a variety of positions including associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, professor of political science, vice president for student success, and a three-year assignment as acting provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. In addition to his duties overseeing Suffolk’s international education programs and strategic partnerships, Royo served as director of the university’s Madrid campus. He also was a commissioner-elect of the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE), the regional accreditation agency for colleges and universities in the six New England states. In addition, he led Suffolk’s COVID-19 Integrated Response team.
Royo holds a law degree from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, a master of arts in international relations, a master of business administration, and a Ph.D. in political science all from Boston University. He is widely published, with 10 books and more than two dozen academic journal articles under his name. His research interests have focused on globalization and competitiveness, democratic transitions, the role of institutions on economic policy and business performance, and varieties of capitalism. He has earned numerous awards and recognitions for exceptional teaching and administration, including Outstanding Administrator of the Year from the Suffolk University Student Government Association and the John Brennan Award for Outstanding Instruction from the Suffolk University Graduate Student Association.
Royo’s many accomplishments at Suffolk included development of high-quality and innovative academic programs, leadership of strategic planning processes and their implementation, collaboration on strategic enrollment and retention initiatives, direction of university accreditation and assessment efforts, leadership of the Office of Research and Assessment, budget development and management, faculty development and grant writing, and fundraising and alumni engagement.
Royo also has been a champion of university-wide efforts to advance diversity, access, and inclusion as evidenced by his leadership of initiatives to recruit, support and graduate underrepresented minority students and efforts to diversify faculty recruitment. In addition, Royo has been deeply involved in the City of Boston’s Success Boston initiative aimed at inspiring and preparing students from Boston public schools for college.
Deeply committed to liberal arts, Royo oversaw development, faculty approval, and implementation of a new core curriculum for the College of Arts and Sciences at Suffolk, as well as a common core curriculum for business and liberal arts students that combines a strong liberal arts core with skills-development-oriented curriculum. Royo taught 16 undergraduate and graduate courses, seven of which he developed for Suffolk’s government program.
At Clark, he likewise is committed to the model of shared governance, ensuring that faculty have a strong voice in university decision-making.