Dr. Kimberly McCorkle has served as Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at East Tennessee State University since July 2021. She is a graduate of Louisiana State University, where she earned a BA in English Language and Literature and was recognized as a Phi Beta Kappa graduate, and she holds a JD from the University of Florida College of Law. Dr. McCorkle has been a member of the Florida Bar since 1999. Prior to joining ETSU, she spent nearly 20 years at the University of West Florida, serving first as Associate Dean and Professor from 2002 to 2017, then as Vice Provost and Professor from 2017 to 2021.

Prior to her career in higher education, Dr. McCorkle practiced law for nearly five years, serving first as a prosecutor and then as a defense attorney. During that period, she served as an adjunct professor in a pre-law program that led to a faculty appointment in legal studies and criminology.

In her role at ETSU, Dr. McCorkle oversees the Division of Academic Affairs, which encompasses 10 academic colleges, the Quillen College of Medicine, and the Gatton College of Pharmacy, serving a student body of over 13,000. During her tenure, she has led the Go Beyond the Classroom initiative which focuses on providing students with the opportunity to participate in community engaged learning; she has spearheaded the development of new academic programs; and she has revised the general education curriculum.

Dr. McCorkle completed the Institute for Educational Management, Management Development Program, and the Seminar on the Leadership of the Faculty at the Harvard Institutes for Higher Education, and she was a part of Leadership Tennessee Class IX.