As provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, Mark D. West reports to the chancellor and is responsible for the academic enterprise across the Danforth Campus. He sets the academic strategy for the university in close collaboration with the chancellor, deans, faculty, and others across campus. Provost West convenes the deans of the major academic units, as well as the leaders of numerous centers, programs, and institutes, and works closely with them to promote academic excellence and scholarly activity, facilitate cross-disciplinary connections, foster improvements and innovations in research, and further enhance WashU’s deep commitment to student learning and success at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Provost West began as provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at Washington University in St. Louis on August 1, 2025. A renowned legal scholar and former dean of the University of Michigan Law School, he brings more than two decades of experience in higher education leadership, scholarship and cross-disciplinary collaboration to this role.
Provost West reports to the chancellor and holds primary responsibility for guiding the university’s academic affairs. He partners closely with the chancellor, deans, faculty and leaders of centers, programs and institutes across the university to advance academic excellence and scholarly activity. To that end, he and his office develop and support initiatives that promote interdisciplinary collaboration, foster research innovation and build on WashU’s strong commitment to student learning and success at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. West also holds a visiting professorship at WashU Law.
A highly respected academic leader and expert in Japanese law, West served as the Nippon Life Professor of Law at the University of Michigan, where he served as dean of the law school from 2013 to 2023.
West joined the Michigan faculty in 1998 and held several key leadership roles, including associate dean for academic affairs at the law school and director of the university’s Center for Japanese Studies. As one of the country’s foremost scholars on the Japanese legal system, he has published extensively, including a leading casebook on Japanese law, four solo-authored books on the interplay of law and society in Japan, and numerous journal articles.
Before entering academia, West practiced corporate law in New York and Tokyo. He has served as a consultant to the World Bank and various U.S. and Japanese government offices and held fellowships at the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University, where he taught in Japanese.
West earned his bachelor’s degree in international studies from Rhodes College and his law degree from Columbia University School of Law. He and his wife, Amber, are the parents of four adult children—one in Berlin, one in Nashville, and two in Chicago—and are happy to call St. Louis home.