New Women Deans at Six Major Universities

Akirah J. Bradley was appointed dean of students and associate vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of Colorado. She will assume her new duties on August 1. Bradley has been serving as assistant dean of students at the University of California, Berkeley.

Bradley is a graduate of Mansfield University in Pennsylvania, where she majored in business administration. She holds a master’s degree in higher education student affairs administration from the University of Vermont and is currently pursuing a doctorate in educational leadership at the University of California, Davis.

Mary Loeffelholz was named interim dean of the College of Professional Studies at Northeastern University in Boston. She has been serving as vice provost for academic affairs and holds a faculty position as a professor of English. Professor Loeffelholz has been on the faculty at the university since 1998.

Dr. Loeffelholz holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Stanford University. She earned a Ph.D. in English and American literature at Yale University.

Alison Carr-Chellman was appointed dean of the College of Education at the University of Idaho, effective July 1. She has been serving as a professor and chair of the department of learning and performance systems in the College of Education at Pennsylvania State University.

Dr. Carr-Chellman holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Syracuse University in New York. She earned a Ph.D. in instructional systems technology at Indiana University.

Anne Balsamo was named the inaugural dean of the School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication at the University of Texas at Dallas. She has been serving as dean of thee School of Media Studies at The New School in New York. Dr. Balsamo is the author of the book Designing Culture: The Technological Imagination at Work (Duke University Press, 2011) and Technologies of the Gendered Body: Reading Cyborg Women (Duke University Press, 1995).

Dr. Balsamo is a magna cum laude graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington. She holds a Ph.D. in communications research from the University of Illinois.

Susamma Barua was appointed interim dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at California State University, Fullerton. She has been an associate dean of the college since 2008. Dr. Barua is expected to serve as interim dean for one year while a search for a new dean is in progress.

Dr. Barua is a graduate of Regional Engineering College in India. She earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma and a Ph.D. in computer engineering from the University of Cincinnati.

Suri Duitch was named dean of the School of Continuing Studies at Tulane University in New Orleans, effective August 15. She has been serving since 2011 as deputy to the senior university dean for academic affairs at the City University of New York. She has been on the staff at CUNY since 2004.

Dr. Duitch holds a master of social work degree from Hunter College of the City University of New York and a Ph.D. in urban education from the CUNY Graduate Center.