Travis Proulx

Vice President for External Affairs

Travis Proulx joined Fordham in January 2025 as the University’s inaugural vice president for external affairs. He oversees government relations and the Center for Community Engaged Learning. Reporting directly to the senior vice president, chief financial officer, and treasurer, Proulx leads Fordham’s work advocating resources at the federal, state, and local levels, as well as deepening Fordham’s positive community impact in the Bronx, Manhattan, Westchester, and globally.

Prior to joining Fordham, Proulx (pronounced proo) served the State University of New York (SUNY), where he led government relations, partnerships, and communications for the largest comprehensive system of public higher education in the country. At SUNY he also managed New York’s Small Business Development Center network, with its 23 regional offices.

Proulx successfully advocated for the expansion of the State’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) and Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP), as well as the creation of professional development institutes that operationalized SUNY’s commitment to ensuring diversity, equity, and inclusion in leadership. He also negotiated New York’s name, image, likeness law, and secured historic funding for the research and development of semiconductor technology. 

Before to his service with SUNY, Proulx led advocacy and communications for Metropolitan Public Strategies, Environmental Advocates of New York, and the State of New York. Key campaigns include passage of New York’s groundbreaking climate emissions law and the state’s 2014 ban on fracking.

Proulx is a proud alumnus of the CUNY Graduate Center and the HEOP program at St. Lawrence University; he understands firsthand the transformative power higher education has in creating opportunity and upward social mobility. He is committed to being accessible to the campus community and is eager to help identify new partnerships and resources that benefit Fordham’s students, faculty, and staff.