Career talk (academia to government and back) with Dr. Sather-Wagstaff

Dr. Keri Ann Sather-Wagstaff (she/her/hers) is a neurodiverse, transgender lesbian, a first-generation college student, and Framingham State University's Associate Provost. She earned her Bachelor's degree (AB) from UC Berkeley in 1994 and her MS and PhD from the University of Utah in 1998 and 2000, all in mathematics. She had postdoc and other faculty positions before taking a tenure-track position at North Dakota State University in 2007 where she earned tenure along with college and university awards for research, equity, and mentoring. She was recruited to Clemson University in 2015 where she earned the rank of Professor and departmental awards for service. At NDSU and Clemson, she was engaged with NSF ADVANCE (Organizational Change for Gender Equity in STEM Academic Professions) institutional transformation projects focused on improving university culture around gender equity. She was named as Fellow of the Association for Women in Mathematics in 2023. She served as a program director at the National Science Foundation from 2022 to 2025 where she co-led the ADVANCE program, led the AGEP (Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate) program, and was recognized with the Director's Award for Achievement in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility and/or Equal Opportunity, the agency's highest staff award. She started her current role in March 2025, focused on faculty affairs, institutional effectiveness, and academic affairs budgeting, with DEI integrated throughout.