Four Women Who Have Been Appointed Deans

Barbara J. Johnson has been named the next dean of Perimeter College at Georgia State University, effective February 12. Dr. Johnson currently serves as executive vice president and provost at Talladega College in Alabama, where she oversees the college’s academic affairs, including the institution’s academic mission, teaching, research, and service. Prior to joining Talladega College in 2022, Dr. Johnson served as vice president for academic affairs and professor of student services administration at Arkansas Tech University.

Dr. Johnson holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. She earned an MBA from Ohio State University and a Ph.D. in education and human development with an emphasis in higher education administration from Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

Melissa Rose, senior associate dean of academic affairs and professor of piano at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, will assume the role of dean of the university’s School of Music for a two-and-a-half-year term. A prolific collaborative pianist, Professor Rose has performed alongside instrumentalists and singers in concerts throughout the United States and around the world. She has recorded for six record labels. Dr. Rose first joined the faculty as an adjunct senior artist teacher in 1996 and was appointed full time to the faculty in 1999.

Professor Rose holds a master’s degree in piano performance from the Yale School of Music and a doctorate in musical arts in collaborative piano from the University of Michigan.

Elizabeth Lorang has been named dean of university libraries at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She was named interim dean on May 2, 2023. Dr. Lorang began her University of Nebraska–Lincoln career as a research assistant professor in the department of English and Center for Digital Research in the Humanities. In 2016, she was named digital humanities projects librarian and then associate dean of research and learning in 2018.

Dr. Lorang holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Towson University in Maryland. She earned a master’s degree in information science and learning technology from the University of Missouri and a doctorate in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Marie Hronik-Tupaj is the new dean of STEM at Middlesex Community College in Bedford, Massachusetts. Dr. Hronik-Tupaj has been at Middlesex for five years serving as a professor of engineering.

After graduating from Tufts University with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, Hronik-Tupaj proceeded to work in high-tech. She returned to Tufts to earn a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering.