Nell Jessup Newton was named interim dean of the University of Miami School of Law in Florida. She will also serve as a visiting professor of law. Professor Newton is the former dean of Notre Dame Law School in Indiana. She began her academic career at the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law in Washington, D.C., where she was the first woman to earn tenure and promotion to full professor. Later, she was the first woman to serve as dean of the law school at the University of Denver.
Professor Newton is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.
Mira Lowe was selected as the next dean of the School of Journalism & Graphic Communication at Florida A&M University. She will begin her new job on October 22. Lowe, a veteran journalist and editor, has been assistant dean for student experiences at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications since 2019.
A native of New York, Lowe earned a bachelor’s degree in radio and television at Brooklyn College. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.
Megan Walsh was appointed acting dean of the School of Arts & Sciences at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, New York. She joined the faculty at the university a decade ago and currently is a professor of English and director of the Honors Program. She is the author of The Portrait and the Book: Illustration and Literary Culture in Early America (University of Iowa Press, 2017).
Professor Walsh is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with majors in English and history. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in English from Temple University in Philadelphia.
Eileen G. Collins is the new dean of the College of Nursing at the University of Illinois Chicago. She is a professor in the department of biobehavioral nursing science and has been serving as associate dean for research. Dr. Collins joined the faculty at the University of Illinois Chicago in 2002.
Dr. Collins holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in nursing, all from the Loyola University Chicago.
Sarah Szanton — a prominent gerontologist, expert in health equity and social justice, and longtime faculty member of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing — has been appointed dean of the nursing school. Dr. Szanton joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 2007 as an assistant professor and was promoted to full professor in 2017.
After receiving a bachelor’s degree in African American studies from Harvard University, Dr. Szanton received a bachelor’s degree in nursing and a Ph.D. in nursing science at Johns Hopkins University. She also holds a master’s degree from the University of Maryland.
Catherine R. Squires was named interim dean of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. She has been serving as associate dean since August 2020. Previously, she was in the College of Liberal Arts as a professor of communication studies. She is the author of several books including her latest work, The Post-Racial Mystique: Media and Race in the Twenty-First Century (New York University Press, 2014).
Dr. Squires is a graduate of Occidental College in Los Angeles, where she majored in politics. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in communication studies from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.