Five Women Appointed to Positions as Dean at Major Universities

Katherine Schultz was appointed dean of the School of Education at the University of Colorado at Boulder, effective August 1. Dr. Schultz currently serves as a professor and dean of the School of Education at Mills College in Oakland, California. Earlier in her career, she served on the faculty at the University of Delaware and the University of Pennsylvania.

Professor Schultz is a graduate of Yale University. She holds a master’s degree in elementary education and a second master’s degree and a doctorate from the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania.

Sabrina Zirkel was named dean of the School of Education and Counseling Psychology at Santa Clara University in California, effective June 1. She is the associate dean of education and the Abbie Valley Professor of Educational Leadership at Mills College in Oakland. Earlier in her career, Professor Zirkel served on the psychology faculty at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Dr. Zirkel is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where she majored in psychology. She holds a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Michigan.

Mary McKernan McKay will be the next dean of the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. She will begin her new role in July 1. Currently, Dr. McKay is the McSilver Professor of Poverty Studies and director of the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research in the School of Social Work at New York University. Before joining the faculty at NYU, Dr. McKay was head of the Division of Mental Health Services Research at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

Dr. McKay holds bachelor’s and master’s degree from Loyola University of Chicago. She earned a doctorate in social work at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Marta Kuzma was appointed dean of the Yale School of Art. When she takes office, Kuzma will be the first woman to head the Yale School of Art since its founding in 1869. Since 2014, Kuzma has served as vice chancellor and rector of the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm, Sweden. Earlier, she was director of the Office of Contemporary Art Norway.

A native of New Jersey, Kuzma holds a bachelor’s degree from Barnard College in New York City and a master’s degree in aesthetics and art theory from the Center for Research in Modern European Philosophy at Middlesex University in London.

Lori Ploutz-Snyder was named the next dean of the School of Kinesiology at the University of Michigan, effective July 1. She will also serve as a tenured professor of movement science. Currently, Dr. Ploutz-Snyder is a senior research scientist in the Universities Space Research Association at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. From 1996 to 2008, she served on the faculty at Syracuse University in New York.

Dr. Ploutz-Snyder holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in zoology and a Ph.D. in biological science, all from Ohio University.