Joel Hassman Samuels, a celebrated scholar, researcher, and an expert on the rule of law, is the University of Miami’s executive vice president for academic affairs and provost, overseeing the academic programs, policies, and faculty affairs of the institution.
Samuels, who has more than 20 years of experience in higher education, was previously the dean of the University of South Carolina McCausland College of Arts and Sciences, where he played an instrumental role in reshaping the teaching and research enterprise of what is the largest college at that state’s flagship institution of higher learning.
He served in that capacity for more than four years, overseeing an annual budget of more than $450 million. Samuels spearheaded efforts that increased that number substantially in each year of his tenure as dean by growing undergraduate student enrollment, federal research awards, and philanthropically endowed funds. He cultivated relationships with some of USC’s top donors, and he secured the largest programmatic gift in the university’s history—a $75 million naming gift for the College of Arts and Sciences.
While at USC, Samuels also served as a tenured professor of law, where he was recognized for his teaching and research excellence, including multiple student awards for teaching in the School of Law and the university’s highest institution-wide honor for research excellence.
At the University of South Carolina, Samuels also served as the executive director of that university’s Rule of Law Collaborative (ROLC)—a role in which he was the lead principal investigator on over $27 million in federal grants, positioning him as the top-funded social scientist at the institution. In his role as ROLC’s executive director, the interdisciplinary initiative, which is focused on supporting the rule of law around the world, became one of the leading centers of its kind in the country. Programming at ROLC increased by more than nine times, staff by eight times, and the annual budget more than twenty-fold under Samuels’ leadership.
Samuels’ extensive background encompasses initiatives beyond higher education. He previously served at the World Bank in the Office of Vice President for Africa in Washington, D.C., and at the African Capacity Building Foundation in Harare, Zimbabwe, helping to draft an initiative for capacity building in Africa, organizing and participating in consultative workshops across sub-Saharan Africa, and preparing a comprehensive review of efficacy of capacity building components in all World Bank projects in Africa.
And as an associate at the Washington, D.C.-based law firm Covington and Burling, Samuels participated in litigation and arbitration cases related to Turkey, Argentina, and the boundary dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia, among other matters.
Samuels also brings a unique leadership quality to his role as the U’s executive vice president for academic affairs and provost, having once served as the head coach of a roller derby team. During his seven-year tenure leading the Columbia QuadSquad, Samuels led the team to a No. 26 ranking out of more than 350 teams worldwide.
Samuels graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and certificates in Russian Studies and European Cultural Studies. During his undergraduate career at Princeton, he also served as the editorial page editor of The Daily Princetonian and sports director and play-by-play announcer for WPRB Radio.
He earned his J.D. cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was a Clarence Darrow Scholar. Following law school, Samuels clerked for the Honorable Barry Ted Moskowitz of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
Samuels also holds a Master of Arts in Russian and East European Studies from Michigan. He speaks French and Russian and is studying Spanish.
