Michael Halleran became William & Mary's fifth provost on July 1, 2009. He is also a professor of classical studies.

As the university's chief academic officer, Halleran is responsible for all academic and research programs, academic budgets, institutional planning, space allocation and faculty development. He co-chairs the university's strategic planning and business innovation committees. He has played a leading role in implementing the William & Mary Promise, which increased access, affordability and predictability for in-state students, while providing more resources for university priorities. He established the Creative Adaptation Fund for curricular innovation, has expanded elearning across the campus and, with the support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, created the W. Taylor Reveley, III Interdisciplinary Fellows Program. Halleran helped establish a Confucius Institute in partnership with Beijing Normal University, and has overseen a major increase in international students on campus and the success of the joint degree programme with the University of St Andrews, Scotland.

Halleran attended Kenyon College (A.B., 1975), where he graduated summa cum laude with high honors in Classics and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and received his M.A. (1978) and Ph.D. (1981) from Harvard University focusing his studies on the Greek and Roman classics. He served on the faculty at Connecticut College, the University of Washington and the University of Miami before coming to William & Mary. At the University of Washington he was chair of the classics department (1991-97) and then Divisional Dean for the Arts and Humanities (1997-2005) and served as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Miami (2005-09). His teaching and scholarship have focused on ancient Greek language, literature, intellectual history and mythology, and his publications (articles, books and translations) are primarily on Greek tragedy.

At the University of Washington, Halleran oversaw the creation of the Simpson Center for the Humanities and the Center for Digital Arts. He was deeply involved in strategic planning, faculty development and curricular innovations. While serving as Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Miami, he created new programs for faculty development, started up freshman seminars, increased undergraduate research opportunities and helped to triple the annual fundraising in the College. He also spearheaded the efforts to secure an NSF ADVANCE grant to improve the recruitment and retention of women and under-represented minorities in the sciences and engineering.

Halleran and his wife Erin have three children, Rebecca, Tom and Andy, and two granddaughters, Adelaide and Penelope.