Seven Women Who Have Been Appointed to Positions as University Deans

Amy Heaston has been named interim dean of the College of Education at Georgia Southern University. Over the course of her 30-year career in higher education, Dr. Heaston has served in numerous leadership roles at Georgia Southern including chief of staff in the Office of the President, associate provost, and acting chair of the department of early childhood education and reading.

Dr. Heaston holds a master of education degree and an educational doctorate both from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.

LaTonya Branham has been named dean of academic services and university registrar at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. She has been a member of the university’s faculty since January 2018 and currently serves as an assistant professor of university studies.

Dr. Branham is a graduate of Wilberforce University in Ohio where she majored in organizational management. She holds a master’s degree in management from Antioch University Midwest, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. both in leadership and change from Antioch University.

Alicia E. Feis has been promoted to dean of the Arizona College of Optometry at Midwestern University. She first joined Midwestern University in 2011 as an associate professor. Before her current appointment, she served in assistant and associate deanships with clinical affairs at the Midwestern University Eye Institute.

Dr. Feis is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara where she majored in bio-psychology. She holds a doctor of optometry degree from the Southern California College of Optometry.

Jana Sutton has been named interim dean of the College of Health Sciences at the University of Louisiana Monroe. She has been with the university for 14 years, most recently as interim director of the School of Allied Health. Prior to that position, she served as program director of Marriage and Family Therapy and Counseling Studies for nine years.

Dr. Sutton is a graduate of the University of Southern California where she majored in psychology. She holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. both in marriage and family therapy from the University of Louisiana Monroe.

Suzanne Barbour has been named a professor of biochemistry and dean of the Graduate School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has been serving as dean of the Graduate School at the University of Georgia.

Dr. Barbour is a graduate of Rutgers University in New Jersey, where she majored in chemistry. She holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology and genetics from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Eunice Santos has been named dean of the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois. She currently holds the Ron Hochsprung Endowed Chair and is a professor of computer science and chair of the department of computer science at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Dr. Santos holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Maria del Carmen Flores-Mills has been named vice president of student engagement and dean of students at Queens University in Charlotte, North Carolina. She has been serving as dean of students at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. She previously held leadership positions with DePauw University, Franklin & Marshall College, and Princeton University.

Flores-Mills is a graduate of Iowa State University where she majored in Spanish and education. She holds a juris doctorate from the University of Iowa College of Law.