Steven P. Girardot, Ph.D.
Dr. Steven P. Girardot, vice provost for Undergraduate Education and Student Success, has over twenty years of higher education experience and is a proud Tech alumnus, having earned both a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and a Master of Science in Chemistry from Georgia Tech. He completed his doctorate in chemistry at Emory University and a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. His research was at the interface of chemistry and environmental health.
As vice provost, Girardot is responsible for overseeing and executing programs that support and advance the quality and relevance of undergraduate education and the academic success of undergraduate students. He leads the Office of Undergraduate Education and Student Success (OUESS) and its reporting units, which include: Academic Success and Advising (tutoring, advising, pre-professional/pre-health advising, and retention initiatives); the Office of Experiential and Engaged Learning (co-op, internships, undergraduate research, student innovation, service learning, and learning communities); the Office of Student Achievement (transfer and continuing student initiatives); the Career Center (joint report to the vice provost for Graduate and Postdoctoral Education); the John H. Martinson Honors Program; and Georgia Tech’s next QEP, Leaders in Progress and Service. He also helped establish and continues to provide leadership for Tech’s First-Year Semester Abroad (FYSA) program, with the Office of International Education (OIE).
Girardot has made extensive service contributions at the Institute level, leading several committees, task forces, and working groups. He has led Georgia Tech’s Complete College Georgia (CCG) initiative since 2011, and his work has helped achieve increases in graduation and retention rates over the past decade. The CCG leadership team was recognized in 2017 with the University System of Georgia’s (USG) Service Excellence Award.
Since 2000, Girardot has held positions of increasing responsibility at Georgia Tech, including roles in the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC); Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL); and the (former) Office of Success Programs in Student Affairs. In 2011, he established and served as the founding director of the Center for Academic Success, and from 2012-2022, he served as the associate vice provost for Undergraduate Education.
He is an active contributor to the state and national dialogue on student success and undergraduate education. Girardot has presented extensively on topics related to student success and transition. He currently serves on the advisory board for the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition; the USG General Education Council; and as president elect of the Association of Undergraduate Education at Research Universities (UERU). He is a former president of the North American Association of Summer Sessions, for which he won an Outstanding Service Award. In 2022, he was selected for the prestigious Fulbright IEA seminar in France and served as a Fulbright Ambassador in 2024.