Five Universities That Have Appointed Women to Dean Posts

Rhonda M. Gonzales has been appointed dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Denver, effective July 1, 2021. She will also be a tenured professor of history at the university. Dr. Gonzales’ area of research and teaching expertise is African history, specifically the history of East Africa and the Atlantic slave trade to Mexico. She has been serving as chair of the history department at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Dr. Gonzales earned a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, and Ph.D. all from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Yvonne Gaudelius has been named vice president and dean for undergraduate education at Pennsylvania State University. She joined Penn State as a faculty member in 1993 and had been serving as associate vice president and senior associate dean for undergraduate education since 2007. She is also a professor of art education and women’s, gender and sexuality studies.

Dr. Gaudelius holds a bachelor of fine arts degree in art education and fine arts from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She earned a bachelor’s degree in art history from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and a doctorate in art education from Pennsylvania State University.

Sara Sanders has been named dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Iowa. She has been serving in the role on an interim basis interim since July 2020. Dr. Sanders, a professor in the School of Social Work, served as the undergraduate program director from 2011 to 2015 and as director of the School of Social Work from 2015 to 2019.

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.

Christina Christie was named dean of the School of Education & Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Christie, a professor of education, has served as interim dean of the school since July 2020. Previously, she was chair of the department of education and head of the department’s social research methodology division. Before her appointment at UCLA in 2010, she served for nine years on the faculty at Claremont Graduate University.

Dr. Christie earned a master’s degree in education from Teachers College at Columbia University in New York City. She holds a doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Denise Stephens was appointed dean of libraries at the University of Oklahoma. She has been serving as vice provost and university librarian at Washington University in St. Louis. Earlier, she was university librarian at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Stephens holds a bachelor’s degree and a master of library and information science degree from the University of Oklahoma.