Universities Announce the Appointments of Five Women to Dean Positions

Tonya L. Peeples has been named the permanent Harold and Inge Marcus Dean of Engineering in the Pennsylvania State University College of Engineering, effective January 1. Peeples has held the role in an interim capacity since July. Dr. Peeples joined Penn State in 2018 as a professor of chemical engineering and as the inaugural associate dean for equity and inclusion in the College of Engineering. Earlier, Dr. Peeples was a professor of chemical and biochemical engineering and director of the Ethnic Inclusion Effort at the College of Engineering of the University of Iowa.

Dr. Peeples earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from North Carolina State University and a doctorate in chemical engineering from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Kathryn (Katie) Cardarelli, has been named the new dean of the School of Public Health and Information Sciences at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, effective April 8, 2024. Dr. Cardarelli is currently senior associate provost for academic affairs at the University of Kentucky. In her 10 years at the University of Kentucky, she has served as associate dean, college diversity officer, department chair and assistant/senior assistant provost for faculty affairs.

A professor of health, behavior and society, Dr. Cardarelli received a master of public health degree at University of North Texas School of Public Health in Fort Worth. She went on to earn a doctorate in epidemiology at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston.

Emma Savage-Davis will be the next dean of the College of Education and Human Development at Texas A&M University-San Antonio. She will take office on January 1. Dr. Savage-Davis has been serving as dean for the College of Education, Leadership Studies and Counseling at the University of Lynchburg in Virginia.

Dr. Savage-Davis is a graduate of Eastern Illinois University, where she majored in technology education. She holds a master’s degree in occupational education from Chicago State University and a doctorate in postsecondary education curriculum and instruction from Illinois State University.

The University of Texas at Austin has named Sarah Ades as the next dean of the Graduate School and the senior vice provost for graduate and postdoctoral studies. Dr. Ades, who is currently the associate dean for graduate student affairs in the Graduate School at Pennsylvania State University, also serves as a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology. Dr. Ades has been on the faculty at Penn State since 2002.

Professor Ades is a graduate of Yale University, where she majored in molecular biophysics and biochemistry. She holds a Ph.D. in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Cynthia Nance, who has been serving as interim dean of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville School of Law since last summer, will continue to lead the law school as permanent dean through June 2026. Professor Nance first joined the University of Arkansas School of Law faculty in 1994 as an assistant professor and served as the dean from 2006 to 2011. She then returned to the classroom as the Nathan G. Gordon Professor of Law in 2012.

A graduate of Chicago State University, Professor Nance holds a master’s degree in business and a juris doctorate from the University of Iowa.