Six Women Scholars Appointed to University Dean Positions

Shari Veil has been selected as the next dean of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications. When she takes office on July 1, she will also be a tenured full professor. She has been serving as associate dean for undergraduate affairs in the College of Communication and Information and chair and professor in the department of communication at the University of Kentucky. Earlier, she taught strategic communication and served as the director of the Center for Risk and Crisis Management at the University of Oklahoma.

Dr. Veil earned a bachelor’s degree in communication and an MBA, with an emphasis in marketing, from the University of Mary in Bismark, North Dakota. She holds a Ph.D. in communication from North Dakota State University.

Lynette I. Wood is the new dean of the School of Business and Professional Studies at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina. Before joining Shaw University, Dr. Wood served as a professor of accounting at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. Dr. Wood also has served on the faculties of Virginia Tech and Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Wood is a graduate of Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama, where she majored in accounting. She holds a master’s degree in management from the University of Alabama-Huntsville. Dr. Woods was the first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in accounting from Indiana University.

Maura Daly Iversen, a physical therapist and behavioral scientist/clinical epidemiologist with a primary focus in rheumatology, is the new dean of the College of Health Professions at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut. She has been serving as a professor of physical therapy and associate dean of the Bouvé College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University in Boston.

Dr. Iverson is a graduate of what is now Simmons University in Boston. She earned a doctor of physical therapy degree from MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston, a master’s degree in public health from Boston University and a doctorate in health and social behavior from Harvard University.

Browne C. Lewis has been named dean of the School of Law at North Carolina Central University. She will begin in her new role on July 1, 2020. Currently, Lewis serves as the Leon M. and Gloria Plevin Professor of Law and the founding director of the Center for Health Law and Policy at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. She specializes in the areas of bioethics, environmental, family and inheritance law.

Lewis holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Grambling State University in Louisiana, a master’s degree in public policy from the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota, a juris doctorate from the University of Minnesota School of Law, and a master’s degree in energy and environmental law from the University of Houston Law Center.

Kara Shustrin was promoted to dean of students at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. For the past four years, she has served as the associate dean of students/director of student conduct. Shustrin began her career at the university in 1994 as a housing coordinator.

A native of New York who grew up in Oregon, Shustrin earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Oregon in 1990, and a master’s degree in higher education administration and student personnel from Kent State University in Ohio.

Elizabeth Wentz, a professor in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning and dean of social sciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, has been appointed to a new leadership role at Arizona State University. Effective July 1, Wentz will assume the role of vice provost and dean of the Graduate College. She joined the faculty at Arizona State in 1997.

Dr. Wentz holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Ohio State University. She earned a Ph.D. at Pennsylvania State University.