William Inboden, Executive Vice President and Provost

In addition, Dr. Inboden oversees UT Austin’s libraries and museums, archival collections and academic support units. Working closely with the deans and other academic leaders, his responsibilities also span: 

• Faculty recruitment, retention, development and advancement 
• Strategic enrollment management  
• Curriculum 
• Resource management and academic space utilization 
• International engagement 
• Accreditation and assessment 
• Institutional reporting 
• Non-residential, continuing education and online offerings 

Most recently, Dr. Inboden served as director of the Alexander Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education at the University of Florida and Peterson Senior Fellow with the Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Before that, he spent 13 years at UT Austin, including as founding executive director of the Clements Center for National Security, associate professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, Distinguished Scholar at the Strauss Center for International Security and Law, and founding editor-in-chief of the Texas National Security Review.  

He previously served as senior director for strategic planning on the National Security Council at the White House, at the Department of State as a Member of the Policy Planning Staff and a Special Advisor in the Office of International Religious Freedom, and as a staff member in both the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. He also served as head of the London-based Legatum Institute, and as a Civitas Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. In addition, Dr. Inboden has served as an associate with the National Intelligence Council, a member of the CIA Historical Advisory Panel and State Department’s Historical Advisory Council, and a Senior Fellow with the Trinity Forum.  He is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. 

Dr. Inboden has authored numerous books, articles and chapters on diplomatic history, religion and foreign policy, the American presidency, and national security. His most recent book is the award-winning The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, and the World on the Brink.  He is also the author of Religion and American Foreign Policy, 1945-1960: The Soul of Containment (Cambridge University Press), co-editor of The Last Card: Inside George W. Bush’s Decision to Surge in Iraq (Cornell University Press), and co-editor of Hand-Off: The Foreign Policy That George W. Bush Bequeathed to Barack Obama (Brookings Institution Press), 

A champion of student mentorship, Dr. Inboden has chaired or served on nearly 30 doctoral committees, and supervised over 30 pre- and postdoctoral fellows. He is the winner of multiple research, teaching and leadership awards, including recognition as a “Texas 10” by the Texas Exes Alumni Association, and selection as “Lecturer of the Year” at the LBJ School, where courses he taught were voted by students as “Best Class in the LBJ School” and “Class Most Likely to Challenge Your Assumptions.”  

Dr. Inboden received his B.A. in History with Honors from Stanford University and his M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in History from Yale University.