Meet the Provost

As the Interim Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost John W. Weidner, PhD, serves as the university’s chief academic officer, providing oversight and strategic direction for all academic colleges, the Graduate College, UC Online, and a collection of state-of-the-art university libraries. Weidner oversees the human and fiscal resources that fuel UC’s academic and research mission with assistance from the academic deans and provost senior staff while also supporting various aspects of faculty and student success.

Weider joined the University of Cincinnati in 2019 as dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS).  During his decanal tenure, CEAS enrollment grew by 14% and the college achieved record-breaking research, topping out at $46 million in grant awards in 2024. Weidner also launched an important partnership with the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network, a collaboration with more than 65 leading engineering institutions dedicated to equipping students with an entrepreneurial mindset. He guided CEAS to opening a new UC Bioscience Center in 2023 and has spearheaded rich collaborations between CEAS, Digital Futures and the 1819 Innovation Hub within the Cincinnati Innovation District. 

Prior to UC, Weidner was chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of South Carolina (USC), director of their Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Center and a distinguished scientist at the Savannah River National Laboratory. He joined USC as assistant professor in 1991 and was named professor in 2004. Additionally, Dr. Weidner has been a visiting scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems.  

Weidner’s research involves a variety of electroanalytical techniques and sophisticated mathematical models to advance the fields of advanced batteries, electrochemical capacitors, fuel cells and hydrogen production. Weidner earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a PhD in chemical engineering from NC State University.