Associate Vice Provost for Student Success and Executive Director of University Honors

Biography

Dr. Patrick Akos serves as the associate vice provost and executive director of University Honors. In addition, he provides executive oversight of the Office of Undergraduate Research & Fellowships.

His professional experience spans 30+ years as a K-12 teacher, school and clinical mental health counselor, professor and academic leader. For the last 20 years, he was a professor in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research, teaching, supervision, clinical practice and leadership are grounded in a strengths- based framework (Galassi & Akos, 2007), which is informed by humanistic traditions and empirically supported by contemporary scholarship (e.g., positive psychology). Broadly, he studies how best to support and cultivate thriving, especially during educational and career transitions. He has applied this work in curriculum development, math pathways, data analytics, policy governance, strategic planning, and legislative advocacy in a variety of settings.

Akos has a B.S. from Vanderbilt University in Human and Organizational Development and Secondary Education, a M.A. from Morehead State University in Higher Education, and a Ph.D. in Counselor Education from the University of Virginia.

He believes education is a primary pathway to equity and his passion is for empowering others toward agency and well-being.

Clifton Strengths: Relator, Maximizer, Ideation, Individualization, Futuristic