A Quartet of Women Scholars Appointed to Dean Positions

Sara Sanders is the new interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Iowa. Dr. Sanders, a professor in the School of Social Work at the university, has been serving as associate dean for strategic initiatives and director of diversity, equity, and inclusion since January.

Dr. Sanders joined the faculty at the University of Iowa in 2003. She is a graduate of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. Professor Sanders earned a master of social work degree at Washington University in St. Louis and a Ph.D. in social work from the University of Maryland.

Carmenita D. Higginbotham, an art historian whose research examines 20th-century American art, has been named dean of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, effective September 15. She has been serving as chair of the McIntire Department of Art at the University of Virginia. She is the author of the book, The Urban Scene: Race, Reginald Marsh, and American Art (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2015).

Dr. Higginbotham received a bachelor’s degree in English and art history from the University of Minnesota. She holds a master’s degree in art history from the University of Massachusetts and a doctorate in the history of art from the University of Michigan.

Linda Nichols is the new dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She had been serving as dean of the College of Business at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma. She joined the faculty at the University of Tulsa in 2011. Earlier, Dr. Nichols served on the faculty at Texas Tech University for 21 years.

Dr. Nichols is a certified public accountant. She is a graduate of the University of New Orleans and earned a Ph.D. in accounting at Louisiana State University.

Loury Ollison Floyd has been named dean of the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. She was an associate professor and associate dean for undergraduate programs at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro.

Dr. Floyd earned a bachelor’s degree in special education at North Carolina A&T State University. She holds a master’s degree in special education from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, and a Ph.D. in educational policy, planning, and leadership from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.