Kimberly Andrews Espy is an American academic administrator and neuropsychologist serving as the 13th president of Wayne State University since 2023. Her translational neuroscience research focuses on young children and their learning and health outcomes. She was provost of the University of Texas at San Antonio from 2018 to 2023.
Life
Espy is from Cincinnati. She earned a B.A. in psychology from Rice University in 1985. She completed a M.A. (1988) and Ph.D. (1994) in clinical neuropsychology from the University of Houston. Her dissertation was titled, Neurobehavioral Development in Preterm Infants Prenatally Exposed to Cocaine. Espy conducted a clinical and pediatric psychology internship at the Bingham Child Guidance Center at the University of Louisville School of Medicine in 1992. In 1996, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.
Espy is a neuroscientist and psychologist. In 1996, she joined the faculty at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine as an assistant professor teaching first-year medical student neuroscience. She was promoted to associate professor in 2002 and professor in 2005. Espy's translational research focused on young children's ability to control their attention and its relation to their learning and health outcomes. She joined the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 2005 as an associate vice chancellor for research and a professor in the department of psychology where she directed the neuroscience laboratory. From 2010 to 2011, she was the acting dean of graduate studies.
In 2011, Espy became a vice president for research and innovation, dean of the graduate school, and a professor in the department of psychology and the department of special education and clinical sciences at the University of Oregon. She served as the senior vice president for research at the University of Arizona. In 2017, she was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Espy is also an elected fellow of the American Psychological Association. In June 2018, she became the provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She was succeeded by interim provost Heather Shipley. On August 1, 2023 she became the 13th president of Wayne State University, succeeding M. Roy Wilson. Espy is the first woman to serve in the role.
References
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Scientists from Cincinnati Rice University alumni University of Houston alumni Southern Illinois University faculty University of Nebraska faculty University of Oregon faculty University of Arizona faculty Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the American Psychological Association University of Texas at San Antonio faculty Wayne State University faculty Women heads of universities and colleges Heads of universities and colleges in the United States 21st-century American psychologists 21st-century American women scientists 21st-century American biologists American women psychologists Neuropsychologists American women neuroscientists