Paul Kreider

In October 2024, Paul Kreider became interim provost at West Virginia University, and is the chief academic officer responsible for the administration of all academic policies, programs, facilities and budgetary matters. Kreider is committed to WVU’s land-grant mission of ensuring access to exceptional education, supporting and facilitating innovative research and serving the needs of the state and people of West Virginia.

Prior to this interim post, Kreider was named associate provost for undergraduate education in 2017 and then vice provost in 2019, when he began managing the strategic direction of education throughout the WVU System. In March 2024, Kreider also stepped up to serve as interim campus president of WVU Potomac State College, balancing his time between the Morgantown and Keyser campuses. He will continue in that role until a new campus president is selected.

Kreider joined West Virginia University as dean of the former WVU College of Creative Arts in July 2011. While there, he enriched the college’s curriculum by adding several academic programs, including  Musical Theatre,  Music Industry,  Music Therapy and  Dance. He also significantly enhanced the college’s facilities.

Working with faculty and staff in the  School of Art & Design, Kreider opened the Art Museum of WVU and the  Nath Sculpture Garden and oversaw the conceptual design of the ongoing expansion of college’s main facility, the Creative Arts Center. Additionally, he created a vibrant arts outreach program in the college and revitalized recruitment, resulting in a dramatic increase in enrollment. 

Prior to coming to WVU, Kreider served as dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication at Western Illinois University; chair of the Department of Music at Northern Kentucky University; associate dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; chair and assistant chair, coordinator of Vocal Studies and director of Opera Theater at the School of Music at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

His work as an administrator follows a very successful career as a recording artist and performer. Kreider’s performing credits include numerous roles with the Lyric Opera of Chicago for six seasons and as principal baritone with the Landestheater Salzburg for three years. He has appeared on opera stages throughout the world with world-renowned singers, conductors and stage directors, including Leonard Bernstein, Claudio Abbado, Jean Pierre Ponnelle, Placido Domingo and Kiri Te Kanawa. These opera stages include the Vienna State Opera, Maggio Musicale in Florence, Rome, Santa Fe, Atlanta Opera, Minnesota Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, National Opera of Slovenia, and Tokyo, Japan. Symphonic credits include the Great Woods Festival, under Michael Tilson Thomas, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Austria's Mozarteum Orchestra, Tucson Symphony, Las Vegas Philharmonic, the New Mexico Symphony, Las Vegas Philharmonic, Illinois Symphony, Kentucky Symphony, and multiple appearances with the West Virginia Symphony.

Kreider's recordings include a Deutsche Grammophone recording conducted by Leonard Bernstein and three song cycles by Daron Hagen released by Arsis Audio entitled “Love in A Life.” He also recorded another for Arsis as a guest with the Baylor University Wind Ensemble of Hagen’s “Heart of the Stranger.” CRI Records released Hagen’s “Vera of Las Vegas” in 2002, with Kreider in the role of Dumdum. His most recent recording is an American art song entitled “Four Composers and One Voice,” featuring Kreider accompanied by composers Ned Rorem, David Del Tredici, Daron Hagen, and Virko Baley on a song cycle from each composer, also on the Arsis label.