Five Women Who Have Been Appointed Deans at Colleges and Universities

Lerzan Aksoy is the new dean of the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University in New York. She has been serving as interim dean of the business school since July 1, 2022. From 2015 to 2022 she served as associate dean of undergraduate studies and strategic initiatives at the business school. She joined Fordham’s marketing faculty in 2008. Dr. Aksoy began her academic career as a marketing professor in the College of Administrative Sciences and Economics at Koç University in Istanbul, Türkiye.

Dr. Aksoy holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Hacettepe University in Ankara, Türkiye. She earned an MBA from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and a Ph.D. in marketing from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Megan Ranney will become dean of the Yale School of Public Health on July 1. Dr. Ranney currently serves as the deputy dean of the Brown University School of Public Health and has been on the faculty there since 2008. She is also a professor of behavioral and social science and the Warren Alpert Endowed Professor of Emergency Medicine at Brown University’s Alpert Medical School.

Dr. Ranney holds a bachelor’s degree in the history of science from Harvard University. She earned a medical doctorate from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Ursuline College in Pepper Pike, Ohio, has appointed Jenise M. Snyder as dean of Arts, Sciences, and Professional Studies. She has served as interim dean since March 2022 after becoming chair of the biology department in 2020.

Dr. Snyder grew up in Miami, Florida. She earned a bachelor’s degree in biology teacher education and a master’s degree in biology from Florida International University. She holds a Ph.D. in ecology from the University of California, Davis.

Alma B. Littles is the new interim dean of the College of Medicine at Florida State University. She has served as senior associate dean for medical education and academic affairs at the medical school for nearly 20 years. She practiced family medicine in the Florida Panhandle before joining the academic world.

The youngest of 12 children in her family, Dr. Littles is a graduate of the University of Florida and the University of Florida College of Medicine.

Jennifer Frey will be the inaugural dean of the Honors College at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma, effective July 1, 2023. Dr. Frey is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina. Previously she was a collegiate assistant professor in the humanities at the University of Chicago. Her academic research focuses primarily on virtue and happiness.

Dr. Frey received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and medieval studies from Indiana University-Bloomington. She holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh.