Nine Women Who Have Been Appointed to Dean Positions at Universities

Debra Satz was appointed the Vernon R. and Lysbeth Warren Anderson Dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University in California. She has been serving as the Marta Sutton Weeks Professor in Ethics at the university. Dr. Satz joined the faculty at Stanford in 1988 after teaching at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. She is the author of Why Some Things Should Not Be for Sale: The Moral Limits of Markets (Oxford University Press, 2010). She is also the editor of the journal Philosophy and Public Affairs.

Dr. Satz is a graduate of City College of New York, where she majored in philosophy. She earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Michele H. Jackson will be the next dean of Lyman Briggs College at Michigan State University. Lyman Briggs College is a residential college that bridges the science and humanities through interdisciplinary teaching and research. Dr. Jackson has been serving as associate provost for the Office of eLearning Initiatives at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. She was also an associate professor of educational policy, planning, and leadership.

Before joining the faculty at the College of William and Mary in 2015, Dr. Jackson served on the faculty at the University of Colorado. She holds a Ph.D. in speech communication from the University of Minnesota.

Kelly M. Smith was named dean of the College of Pharmacy at the University of Georgia, effective August 1. Since 2009, she has served as associate dean for academic and student affairs at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy.

A native of Statesboro, Georgia, Dr. Smith earned a bachelor’s degree and a doctor of pharmacy degree at the University of Georgia.

Sandra Miles will be the next dean of students and vice provost for student affairs at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She will begin her new job on August 1. Since 2016, Dr. Miles has been serving as dean of students at Indiana University/Purdue University Columbus in Columbus, Indiana. She joined the staff there in 2011.

Dr. Miles holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from the University of Central Florida and a Ph.D. in educational leadership from Florida State University.

Vanessa Beasley has been promoted to associate provost and dean of residential faculty at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She was serving as dean of the Martha Rivers Ingram Commons at Vanderbilt. Dr. Beasley is an associate professor of communication studies.

Dr. Beasley is a 1988 graduate of Vanderbilt University. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas.

Courtney Bentley was named dean of the College of Education at the University of Montevallo in Alabama. She has been serving as associate dean of programs for the School of Education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Earlier, she taught at the University of Montevallo, Troy University in Alabama, and the University of Central Florida.

Dr. Bentley is a graduate of Auburn University in Alabama. She earned a master’s degree at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro and a doctorate in curriculum and teaching from Teachers College at Columbia University in New York City.

Stephanie Hartwell will be the next dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Wayne State University in Detroit. She has been serving as a professor of sociology and interim dean of the College of Public and Community Service at the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

Dr. Hartwell is a graduate of Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. She holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Yale University.

Camelia Moses Okpodu was appointed dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans. She has been serving as a professor of biology and director of the Group for Microgravity and Environmental Biology at Norfolk State University in Virginia. Earlier in her career, she taught at Hampton University in Virginia and Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina.

Dr. Okpodu holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and a Ph.D. in plant physiology and biochemistry from North Carolina State University.

Dorothy L. Hodgson was named dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, effective August 20. She has been serving as senior associate dean for academic affairs for the School of Graduate Studies at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Dr. Hodgson is a past president of the African Studies Association and the Association of Feminist Anthropology.

Dr. Hodgson is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where she majored in English. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Michigan.