A Handful of New Women Deans at Universities Across the United States

Dana Williams has been named interim dean of the Howard University Graduate School. She is chair of the department of English and a professor of African American literature. She has been a Howard University faculty member since 2003. Dr. Williams is the author of two books: Contemporary African American Female Playwrights: an Annotated Bibliography (Greenwood, 1999) and In the Light of Likeness—Transformed: The Literary Art of Leon Forrest (Ohio State University Press, 2005).

Dr. Williams holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Grambling State University in Louisiana and a master’s degree and Ph.D. both in African American literature from Howard University.

Eileen Strempel has been named the inaugural dean of the Herb Alpert School of Music at the University of California, Los Angeles. She currently serves as a professor of voice in the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Dr. Strempel is a graduate of the University of Rochester in New York where she majored in music. She holds a master of music degree and a doctor of music degree both from Indiana University.

Francesca Cornelli has been named dean of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She currently serves a professor of finance, deputy dean of degree education, and director of private equity at the London Business School.

Dr. Cornelli holds a bachelor’s degree from Università Commerciale Bocconi in Milan, Italy, and a master’s degree and doctorate in economics from Harvard University.

Faye Gilbert has been named dean of the Undergraduate School of Business in the Maine Business School at the University of Maine. She was dean of the College of Business and Economic Development and a professor of marketing at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Dr. Gilbert holds an MBA from the University of Southern Mississippi and a Ph.D. in marketing with an emphasis in applied statistics from the University of North Texas.

Adrienne C. Webber has been named dean of the Digital Library and Learning Commons at Grambling State University in Louisiana. She was dean of Library Services at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

Webber holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and a master’s degree in library service from Clark Atlanta University.