Sunil Kumar

Sunil Kumar

Provost, Johns Hopkins University

As provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Johns Hopkins University, Sunil Kumar is the second-highest ranking member of the senior administration, responsible for promoting and coordinating the university’s teaching and research, and overseeing Hopkins’ nine schools.

In his role at Hopkins, Kumar has focused on increasing interdisciplinary research and education, enhancing the student experience and promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.

Before taking over as provost at Hopkins in September 2016, Kumar was dean of the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and a professor of operations management. Prior to that, he was on the faculty of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and also served as senior associate dean for academic affairs.

Born in India and the son of a police officer, Kumar received a Master of Engineering in computer science and automation from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore and a Bachelor of Engineering from Mangalore University in Surathkal, both in his home country. He later earned a doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Kumar’s research includes performance evaluation and control of manufacturing systems, service operations, and communications networks. In particular, he studies systems affected by stochastic variability via mathematical models. He also studies the application of optimization methods and control theory to managerial problems.

Kumar is leaving Hopkins to take over as president of Tufts University, in Somervile, Massachusetts, in July.

This profile is part of The Daily Record's Higher Education Power List for 2023. Information used in this profile was sourced from the honoree. See the full list at thedailyrecord.com.