Five Colleges and Universities Appoint Women to Dean Positions

Alison Cullen has been named interim dean of the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance at the University of Washington. She joined the faculty at the university in 1995 and now holds the Daniel J. Evans Endowed Professorship of Public Policy and Governance at the university. Dr. Cullen will begin her new duties on September 1.

Dr. Cullen received her bachelor’s degree in civil/environmental engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of technology. She holds both a master’s degree in environmental health science, exposure assessment and engineering and a doctorate in environmental health management from the Harvard University School of Public Health.

The University of Memphis has named Katharine Traylor Schaffzin as the new dean of the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law. She is the first woman to hold the position. Professor Schaftzin has served as interim dean for the past year and previously was associate dean. She joined the faculty in 2009. Earlier, she served for three years as an assistant professor at the University of North Dakota School of Law.

Professor Schaffzin is a graduate of LaSalle University in Philadelphia. She holds a master’s degree and a juris doctorate from the Temple University School of Law in Philadelphia.

Yolanda Cooper has been promoted to dean and university librarian at Emory University in Atlanta. She had led Emory’s Libraries since 2014. Before coming to Atlanta, Cooper was an associate professor, deputy university librarian, and acting dean and university librarian at the University of Miami in Florida. Earlier in her career she held library posts at Indiana University, the University of Virginia, the University of Northern Colorado, and the University of Illinois.

Cooper holds a bachelor’s degree and a master of library sciences degree from Indiana University.

Natalie Person was appointed dean for curricular development at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. She joined the faculty at the college in 1994 and currently serves as a professor of psychology and chair of educational studies.

Dr. Person is a graduate of the University of Mississippi, where she majored in psychology. She holds a master’s degree in general psychology and a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from the University of Memphis.

Joan R.M. Bullock, professor emerita and former president and dean of Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, California, is the new dean of Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston. Earlier in her career she was a senior founding faculty member of the reestablished Florida A&M University College of Law where she held several academic and administrative positions, including professor, interim director of admissions and recruitment, associate dean for teaching and faculty development, and associate dean for academic affairs.

Dean Bullock is a graduate of Michigan State University. She earned an MBA at the University of Michigan and juris doctorate from the University of Toledo.