New Deans Announced at Six Colleges and Universities

Pamela R. Matthews is the new dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University. She has been serving as interim dean since July 2014. Dr. Matthews is a professor of English at the university and has been on the faculty for more than a quarter century. She has served as the director of the Women’s and Gender Studies program at Texas A&M.

Professor Matthews holds a master’s degree in English language and literatures from Texas A&M University and a Ph.D. in American literature from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Sydney Richardson is the new dean of the Martha H. Fleer Center for Adult Education at Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Dr. Richardson joined the faculty at Salem College in 2007 and recently was serving as an assistant professor of education and director of the college’s Writing Center.

Dr. Richardson is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she majored in political science. She holds a master’s degree in English from North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro and a Ph.D. in education studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Meera Komarraju was named the next dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. She is chair of the department of psychology at the university and will begin her new duties as dean on July 1.

Professor Komarraju joined the faculty at Southern Illinois University in 1986. She is a graduate of Nizam College in India. Dr. Komarraju holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in organizational psychology from Osmania University in India and a Ph.D. in applied social psychology from the University of Cincinnati.

Anne Helmreich will be the next dean of the College of Fine Arts at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, effective August 1. She is a senior program officer at the Getty Foundation in Los Angeles. Dr. Helmreich was a professor of art history at TCU from 1996 to 2003.

Dr. Helmrich is a graduate of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a Ph.D. in art history from Northwestern University.

Judith Stoddart was appointed interim dean of the Graduate School and associate vice provost for graduate education at Michigan State University. An associate professor of English, Dr. Stoddart has served as associate dean since 2011.

Dr. Stoddart is a graduate of Michigan State University, where she double majored in English and French. She was chosen as a Rhodes Scholar and earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in English at the University of Oxford in England.

Claudine Gay was named dean of social science at Harvard University, effective July 1. She is a professor of government and a professor of African and African American studies at the university. Dr. Gay has been on the Harvard faculty since 2006.

Professor Gay is a graduate of Stanford University in California, where she majored in economics. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University.