Eight New Women Deans

Brid Grant was named dean of the School of Fine Arts at the University of Connecticut. Her appointment is effective in August. She has been serving as dean and director of the College of Arts and Tourism at the Dublin Institute of Technology. From 2007 to 2010 she was dean of DIT’s Faculty of Applied Arts and from 2003 to 2007 was head of the institute’s Conservatory of Music and Drama.

Grant is a graduate of University College Dublin. She holds a master’s degree in music from the Dublin Institute of Technology.

Ann Carruth was appointed dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond. She has been serving as interim dean since January 2011. She has been a professor of nursing at the university since 2002.

Dr. Carruth is a graduate of Southeastern Louisiana University. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Mississippi and a doctor of nursing science degree from the Louisiana State University Health Science Center in New Orleans.

Julie DeGraw was selected as vice president for student life and dean of students at Bluffton University in Bluffton, Ohio. She will assume her new duties on July 1. Currently, she is dean of counseling, advising, and transfer at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, Illinois.

Dr. DeGraw is a graduate of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and earned a master’s degree in counseling from Michigan State University. She holds a second master’s degree and a doctorate from the University of Michigan.

Elizabeth Cada was named dean of the College of Health and Human Services at Governors State University in Illinois. She has served in the post on an interim basis for the past year and has been chair of the university’s department of occupational therapy for the past 15 years.

Dr. Cada is a graduate of Colorado State University. She earned a master’s degree at George Williams College in Wisconsin and an educational doctorate at Northern Illinois University.

Susan Stapleton was named dean of the Graduate College at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. Professor Stapleton has been on the faculty at the university since 1990 and for the past five years has served as associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Professor Stapleton is a graduate of Juniata College in Pennsylvania. She holds a Ph.D. from Miami University of Ohio.

Laurie Achenbach was named interim dean of the College of Science at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. She has been serving as associate dean for research and graduate programs. Dr. Achenbach is a professor of microbiology and has served on the university’s faculty for more than 20 years.

A graduate of Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Professor Achenbach earned a Ph.D. in genetics and development at the University of Illinois.

Jennifer Iacino was named dean of student development and campus life at Berkeley College, which operates eight campuses in the New York City metropolitan area. Previously, she was an administrator at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, North Carolina.

Dr. Iacino holds bachelor’s and doctoral degrees from Florida State University. She earned a master’s degree at George Washington University.

Kim Wilson, a professor of landscape architecture at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, has been named to a three-year term as interim dean of the College of Architecture at the university. She has been on the university’s faculty since 2009 and previously taught at Purdue University.

Professor Wilson is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University and holds a master’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of Michigan.