Smithsonian Institution. Office of the Provost.

The Office of the Provost was established on October 31, 1994, by I. Michael Heyman, Secretary. His goal was to reorganize certain senior management functions and give "new sets of responsibilities to several highly accomplished senior staff." At this time, Assistant Secretaries who had previously reported to the Secretary, now reported to the Provost, including the Assistant Provost for the Arts and Humanities, Assistant Provost for Educational and Cultural Programs, and the Assistant Provost for the Sciences. O'Connor eliminated these three offices in early 1996.

The Provost served as the Smithsonian's chief program officer, overseeing all scholarly programs and staff in the areas of research, museum exhibitions and education, as well as library, archives and other scholarly support activities in the sciences, arts, and humanities.

Robert S. Hoffmann, was Acting Provost, 1994-1995; and J. Dennis O'Connor was Provost, 1995-2000.