Universities Announce the Appointments of Three Women to Dean Positions

Maureen Raymo was appointed co-founding dean of the Columbia Climate School, the first new school at Columbia University in a quarter century. She will continue to hold the title of the G. Unger Vetlesen Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences. Dr. Raymo also was named the director of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

Dr. Raymo is a graduate of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She holds two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. in geology from Columbia University.

Emily Roxworthy was named dean of the School of Dramatic Arts at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, effective July 1. She has been serving as associate dean of the Graduate Division at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Roxworthy has led the University of California, San Diego’s joint doctoral program with the University of California, Irvine, in theater and drama and was vice chair of the UCSD department of theatre and dance. She is the author of The Theatrical Professoriate: Contemporary Higher Education and Its Academic Dramas (Routledge, 2019).

Dr. Roxworthy grew up in Detroit before moving to Chicago to earn her bachelor’s degree in performance studies and English literature from Northwestern University. After getting a master’s degree in theatre arts from Cornell University, she returned to Northwestern for her doctorate in theatre and drama.

Susan Brocksmith was appointed dean of the College of Business and Public Service at Vincennes University in Indiana. A faculty member since 1990, Brocksmith has served as chair of the agribusiness program since 1994.

Brocksmith earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural systems management at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. She holds an MBA from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.