Five Women Who Have Been Appointed to Dean Positions at American Universities

Judy L. Postmus will be the next dean of the School of Social Work at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. She will take office on July 1. Dr. Postmus has been serving as associate dean for research and faculty development at the Rutgers University School of Social Work in New Jersey. Her research has focused on the physical, sexual, and economic victimization of women.

Dr. Postmus is a summa cum laude graduate of Florida International University. She holds a master of social work degree from Barry University in Miami and a Ph.D. in social welfare from the University at Albany of the State University of New York System.

Sarah Rebecca Thomas has been selected to serve as the next vice president for academic affairs and dean of the university at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. She will become dean on July 1. Dr. Thomas has been serving as vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty at Earlham College in Indiana. Earlier in her career, Dr. Thomas was academic dean at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.

Dr. Thomas holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University.

Teresa L. Knott has been appointed interim dean of the Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries, effective July 1. Knott currently serves as associate dean of VCU Libraries and director of the Tompkins-McCaw Library for Health Sciences. Knott began her career at the university in 2009 as associate university librarian.

Knott holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and history from the University of New Mexico. She earned a master of library science degree from the University of Oklahoma and a master of public administration degree from the University of Texas at El Paso.

Tatum Thomas will be the next dean of the School of Continuing and Professional Studies at DePaul University in Chicago. She will take office on July 1. Dr. Thomas currently serves as senior associate dean of student affairs at Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies in New York City. Prior to her current role, she served as the director of academic services at New York University’s School of Professional Studies.

Dr. Thomas holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Marymount Manhattan College and a master’s degree in higher education administration from Baruch College of the City University of New York. She earned a doctorate in organizational leadership from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.

Janet Braam has been appointed interim dean of the Wiess School of Natural Sciences at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Dr. Braam, the Wiess Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology and chair of Rice’s department of biosciences, will begin her new duties on July 1.

Dr. Braam joined the faculty at Rice in 1990. She earned a bachelor’s degree in zoology at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and a Ph.D. in molecular virology and biology from the Sloan-Kettering Division of the Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences.