Tywana Chenault Hemby, Ph.D.

Tywana Chenault Hemby, Ph.D., is provost and executive vice president for academic services at Paine College in Augusta, Georgia. Dr. Hemby comes to the college with more than two decades of experience in higher education leadership, faculty development, and institutional transformation. Most recently, she served as the first African American dean of social sciences at Columbia College in South Carolina. Earlier in her career, she was dean of the School of Humanities, Education, and Social Sciences at Voorhees University in Denmark, South Carolina. She has a wide range of scholarly interests, including effective teaching strategies, utilizing technology in education, addressing racial trauma in educational spaces, fostering student achievement, and promoting critical literacy.

“Paine College is not simply an institution — it is a mission. I am deeply honored to join this community and to serve its students, faculty, and the greater Augusta community,” said Dr. Hemby. “Rooted in Paine’s legacy of ‘Enter to Learn; Depart to Serve,’ I am committed to cultivating academic excellence, collaborating across our community, transforming our institutional culture, and serving with everything I have.”

Dr. Hemby received a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Voorhees University, a master’s degree in psychology and counseling from Troy University in Alabama, and a Ph.D. in psychology from Capella University.