Meet the Provost and Vice-President, Academic

Roberta Iannacito-Provenzano is provost and vice-president, academic at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) and a full professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures in the Faculty of Arts. 

She earned her PhD in Italian Studies at the University of Toronto. Her research interests include southern Italian dialectology, Molisan dialect literature, theatre and plurilingualism, how ethnicity and identity are represented on social media and the notion of authenticity and Italian food products in the diasporic context. 

Roberta has published widely, including a monograph and several edited volumes. She co-edited Italian Foodways Worldwide: The Dispersal of Italian Cuisine(s) (Soleil, 2019) with Gabriele Scardellato and Domestic Goods: Silence Speaks in Our Objects, Clothing, Keepsakes and Interiors (2024) with Lorella Di Cintio. She and Di Cintio also co-hosted a 2025 symposium on the unhoused, supported by a SSHRC Connection Grant.

Roberta first joined TMU as vice-provost, faculty affairs in 2020 after having held progressive academic administrative roles at other institutions. 

As Provost and Vice-President Academic, she serves as both the university’s Chief Academic Officer and Chief Operating Officer. In this capacity, she provides executive leadership across the full academic enterprise which includes all Faculties and Schools, graduate and postdoctoral education, Zone Learning, student success, strategic enrolment management, academic policy, while also stewarding budgets, risk, governance and internationalization. Deeply committed to equity, diversity, inclusion, access and Reconciliation, Roberta also champions initiatives that address persistent structural and cultural barriers to women’s advancement, including health equity, caregiving, and workplace wellbeing. 

With extensive experience in academic labour relations, in her vice-provost, faculty affairs role, Roberta advocated for equitable hiring and evaluation policies and developed, with a great team, a robust and well-received suite of initiatives dedicated to enhancing faculty professional development. Her belief in open communication, collegiality and collaboration is demonstrated through her commitment to professional development, mentorship and accommodation.

In addition to serving as provost, Roberta is one of the three executive co-chairs of both the Presidential Implementation Committee to Confront Anti-Black Racism and the TRC Strategic Working Group at TMU. 

Notably, she was the president of the Canadian Association for Italian Studies (2020-2022), the vice-president of the Italian-Canadian Archives Project (2019-2021) and has been the recipient of numerous academic and professional awards, including the CIBPA Award for Professional Excellence for service to the community in October 2023 and the CIBPA Women's Leadership Champion in 2025. She was recently elected to the National Executive of the Senior Women's Academic Administrators of Canada (SWAAC) and to the Board of the CIBPA. In addition she is on the Advisory Board of Shift Canada (external link) , on the Board of e-Campus Ontario and is actively engaged in community activities and initiatives. In 2025, she was named Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100™ Award Winners by the Women’s Executive Network (WXN) in the CN Executive Leaders category. 

Fluent in English, French and Italian, Roberta also holds a Certificate in Conflict and Dispute Resolution, and a Labour Relations Certificate jointly from TRSM and Lancaster House.