Dr. Michael Quick is Executive Vice Provost and Professor of Biological Sciences in the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. As Executive Vice Provost, Dr. Quick is the second-ranking administrator in the Office of the Provost. He is responsible for advancing excellence and innovation in the undergraduate curriculum, enhancing the vibrancy of the undergraduate experience, accelerating USC’s progress toward greater distinction in Ph.D. and professional graduate programs, and increasing the stature of USC’s post-doctoral programs. He works closely with the Provost, the deans, and the faculty to recruit additional transformational faculty and to ensure that USC’s academic community fosters an environment that allows scholars to engage in cutting-edge research, pursue meaningful creative endeavors, and provide effective pedagogy to all students. Dr. Quick also represents the Provost in the University’s academic program review process, provides leadership with respect to the Provost’s Ph.D. Fellowships, and plays a key role in University strategic planning and accreditation. Reporting to Dr. Quick is the Office of Undergraduate Programs, the USC Graduate School, and the Office of Continuing Education and Summer Programs. Dr. Quick previously served as Director of the Neuroscience Graduate Program, and Vice Dean for Research and Executive Vice Dean of USC Dornsife. Dr. Quick received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Emory University and studied as a post-doctoral research fellow at the California Institute of Technology. Before coming to USC in 2002 he was an associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Quick’s scholarship focuses on how drugs of abuse such as cocaine and nicotine, and therapeutic drugs such as antidepressants and anti-epileptic medications, alter the signaling properties of nerve cells.