Garnett Sue Stokes, born December 20, 1955 in Washington, D.C., became Provost at Florida State University in 2011 after serving for 7 years as the Dean of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia.
Dr. Stokes was hired as an Assistant Professor at the University of Georgia after having obtained her Ph.D. One of Stokes’ areas of expertise in industrial and organizational psychology is tools that can be used to measure and assess performance. Much of her research – and the focus of a 1994 book – deals with biodata, which involves the use of biographical information in decisions concerning selection and performance prediction. One of the book chapters she wrote examines how personality, values, attitudes and life experiences can predict occupational choice. One of her articles evaluates how adolescent life experiences can predict occupational attainment. As a consultant to businesses and government agencies, she helped produce 50 technical reports that assess tools, tests and other devices used to select and evaluate employees. She has also helped organizations develop biographical questionnaires, analyze jobs and tasks, create selection and promotion tests, evaluate training programs, study turnover problems and evaluate training programs.She continued to work as a consultant in the field of Industrial Psychology for many government agencies and Fortune 500 companies while serving in her academic capacity at the university. She was later named the Head of the Department of Psychology and her six years of work in that capacity helped prepare her for appointment as Dean of the Franklin College in 2004.
She is the eldest of four children of James Avery Stokes, a retired USAF Chief Master Sergeant and Garnett Lucile Jackson Stokes. Her three brothers include Avery Jackson Stokes (b. 1956-d. 1988), a gun dealer; David Warren Stokes (b. 1958) a Southern Baptist Minister and former Vice-President of the Georgia Baptist Convention; and James Scott Stokes (b. 1966) an attorney and former member of the Georgia House of Representatives (D-Covington).
Dr. Stokes was born in Washington, D.C. where her father served as a Sergeant in the USAF stationed at Andrews AFB and her mother worked at the National Education Association. As is common in a military life, the family moved several times during Sgt. Stokes military career. Dr. Stokes spent time in Covington, Georgia, home of her paternal ancestry; Panama City, Florida; Anchorage, Alaska; Phoenix, Arizona; and Bunker Hill, Indiana prior to high school graduation. In 1973, Dr. Stokes graduated from Maconaquah High School in Bunker Hill, Indiana. She was named Junior Miss of Miami County, Indiana during that year after a performance of the 'Juliet' lines of the most recognized scene with 'Romeo' from the famed Shakespeare play. Upon graduation, she was the first in her family to attend college and enrolled at Indiana University at Kokomo before transferring to Carson Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee, majoring in psychology. She graduated in 1977 and was accepted into the graduate program in psychology at the University of Georgia. She concentrated her studies in the area of Industrial and Organizational Psychology and obtained a Ph.D. in 1981.