CIO Forum Board of Directors

David Vanko, Ph.D.

Towson University
Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

David A. Vanko, PhD, is the Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Towson University. As the chief academic officer of the university, he oversees 125 degree programs (undergraduate, master’s and four doctorate), and supports more than 23,000 students, 1,700 faculty, and more than 200 staff and administrators. Dr. Vanko provides leadership for seven colleges, the Office of Graduate Studies, and the Albert S. Cook Library. As interim provost, he facilitates University and Academic Affairs strategic planning, implements budget and resource allocation plans, guides and oversees innovations in academic technology, promotes faculty excellence and student success, and supports curricular and program distinction.

Dr. Vanko was appointed Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Towson University effective July 1, 2018. He has been the Acting Dean, then Dean, of the Jess and Mildred Fisher College of Science and Mathematics since 2007. Before that, Dr. Vanko served as Professor and Chairperson in the Department of Physics, Astronomy and Geosciences beginning in 2001.

Dr. Vanko attended Johns Hopkins University and then earned his Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from Northwestern University. After a post-doctoral position at Washington University in St. Louis, he moved to Atlanta where he was a faculty member for 18 years at Georgia State University.

Dr. Vanko’s research area is the geology of deep sea volcanoes and mid-ocean ridges. He has spent 405 days at sea on a variety of research vessels using dredging, multibeam sonar mapping, deep sea drilling, and manned and unmanned submersibles. He has made five dives in DSRV Alvin, to a maximum depth of 3,500 meters. His research is published in 43 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, and he has received 14 grants from the National Science Foundation and more than 15 grants from a variety of other sources.

Dr. Vanko chairs the Maryland State Geologic Mapping Advisory Committee for the Maryland Geological Survey, Department of Natural Resources, and he serves on the Scientific and Technical Working Group for the Maryland Commission on Climate Change. He was appointed by Governor Martin O’Malley as the chairperson of the Maryland Governor’s Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Initiative Advisory Commission, which worked from 2011 to 2015 to advise the Governor and the legislature on state policy regarding the possible use of hydraulic fracturing to recover natural gas in Western Maryland.