Brian Harlan was appointed Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs in 2024 and brought to the college a wealth of experience and knowledge from both Academic Affairs and Student Affairs. He formerly served as vice provost for academic affairs at California Institute of the Arts, as well as associate provost for educational effectiveness, associate provost for integrative learning, vice president for student experience, and acting provost. Prior to CalArts Brian was the assistant dean for academic assessment and planning at Occidental College in Los Angeles, and before this director of Doheny Research Library, and director of assessment at University of Southern California.

Brian has extensive experience in assessment, accreditation, integrated planning, institutional research, and educational and institutional effectiveness. He has served as an accreditation liaison officer for WSCUC regional accreditation, and for Arts Accredit national accreditation for art and design, dance, theater, and music.  He is also active as an accreditation evaluator and has served on numerous regional and national assessment committees. His research interests include qualitative methods for equity-based learning assessment, quality assurance in higher education, and the impact of the arts on self, intra and interpersonal relationships, culture, society, and the environment.