Five Women Who Have Been Appointed Deans at Colleges and Universities

Whitney Witt has been named the inaugural dean of the College of Health at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She was the director of the Center for Maternal and Child Health Research at IBM Watson Health in North Carolina.

Dr. Witt is a graduate of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. She holds a masters of public health degree and a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

Lesley Reid has been named interim dean of the School of Social Work at the University of Alabama. She currently serves as chair of the University of Alabama department of criminology and criminal justice.

Dr. Reid holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. both in sociology from Tulane University in New Orleans.

Julia Moffitt has been named dean of the School of Health Sciences at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. She was a professor and chair of the department of physiology, pharmacology, and pathology at the Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Dr. Moffitt holds a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from the University of Louisiana-Monroe, a master’s degree in cardiac rehabilitation from the University of Northern Iowa, and a Ph.D. in the physiology area program in veterinary biomedical sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Jill Irvine has been named interim dean of the College of International Studies at the University of Oklahoma. She currently serves as vice provost for faculty and presidential professor of international and area studies at the university.

Dr. Irvine holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in government from Harvard University.

Sonya Cooper has been named interim dean of the College of Health and Social Services at New Mexico State University. She has a nearly 25-year career at the university, previously serving as associate dean of academics for the College of Engineering.

Dr. Cooper holds a bachelor’s degree from North Carolina State University, a master’s degree from the University of Virginia, and a Ph.D. from New Mexico State University.