Nine Women Appointed to Dean Positions at Major Universities

Laura Mosqueda is the new dean of the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. She is the first woman to lead the school since it was established in 1885. Dr. Mosqueda joined the faculty at the medical school in 2014 and served as associate dean of primary care and chair of the department of family medicine. Earlier, she served for 16 years on the faculty at the School of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine.

Dr. Mosqueda earned her medical degree at the University of Southern California.

Rochelle L. Ford was selected as the next dean of the School of Communications at Elon University in North Carolina. Dr. Ford has been serving as a professor of public relations in the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University in New York. Earlier, she spent 16 years on the faculty of the School of Communications at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Ford is a graduate of Howard University. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park and a Ph.D. in journalism from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.

Elizabeth Theiss-Morse was appointed interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is the Willa Cather Professor of political science and has been serving as associate dean for faculty at the university. Earlier, she chaired the department of political science from 2008 to 2013.

Professor Theiss-Morse is the co-author of Political Behavior in the Midterm Elections, 2015 Edition (Congressional Quarterly Press, 2015). She holds a bachelor’s degree in history and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Minnesota.

Jana Hawley will be the new dean of the College of Merchandising, Hospitality, and Tourism at the University of North Texas. She has been serving as director of the School of Family and Consumer Science and held the PetSmart Endowed Chair at University of Arizona. Earlier in her career, Dr. Hawley was an assistant professor at the University of North Texas.

Dr. Hawley is a graduate of Fort Hays State University in Kansas. She holds a master’s degree in clothing and textile management from Oklahoma State University and a Ph.D. in textile and apparel management from the University of Missouri.

Emile M. Townes was appointed to a second five-year term as dean of the Vanderbilt University Divinity School. Before coming to Vanderbilt in 2013, Dr. Townes was the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of African American Religion and Theology at Yale Divinity School. She is the author of Womanist Ethics and the Cultural Production of Evil (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006).

Dr. Townes holds a bachelor’s degree, a master degree in divinity, and a doctorate of divinity from the University of Chicago. She holds a second doctorate from the joint Northwestern University/Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary program.

Deborah Ward was named interim dean of the School of Nursing at the University of California, Davis. She is a professor and former associate dean for academics at the nursing school. Dr. Ward has served on the faculty of the nursing school since its founding in 2008.

Dr. Ward is a graduate of Oberlin College in Ohio, where she majored in government. She holds a master’s degree in nursing from Yale University and a doctorate in health policy from Boston University.

Laura Kohn-Wood was appointed dean of the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Miami in Florida. She has been on the faculty at the university since 2009.

Dr. Kohn-Wood is a graduate of Howard University in Washington, D.C., where she majored in psychology. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Virginia.

Amy B. Henley was named dean of the College of Business and Public Administration at the University of North Dakota. She has been serving as director of MBA programs in the College of Business at Kennesaw State University in Georgia.

Dr. Henley earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Southern Mississippi. She holds a Ph.D. in organizational behavior and psychology from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Hilary Godwin will be the next dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Washington. She has been serving as a professor and associate dean in the Fielding School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Professor Godwin is a graduate of the University of Chicago, where she majored in chemistry. She earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry at Stanford University in California.