Luchara Wallace has been promoted to dean of the Merze Tate College at Western Michigan University. A faculty member with the department of special education and literacy studies since 2009, she currently serves as director of the Lewis Walker Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnic Relations. Her scholarship focuses on juvenile incarceration, generational wealth attainment, and policies impacting families and individuals with disabilities.
Dr. Wallace is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she majored in Afro-American studies. She holds two master’s degrees in special education and Catholic studies from Loyola University Chicago and a Ph.D. in special education from the University of Kansas.
Lauren Pressley has been named dean of the Z. Smith Reynolds Library at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. She comes to her new role from the University of Washington Libraries, where she served as senior associate dean for research and learning services. Earlier in her career, she held leadership roles with the University of Washington Tacoma Library and Virginia Tech University Libraries.
Pressley is a graduate of North Carolina State University, where she majored in small group and interpersonal communication and philosophy. She earned her master of library and information studies degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Miranda Brand has been promoted to dean of Purdue University Global’s College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Prior to her new position, she served as the college’s associate dean. Earlier, she spent nearly a decade with Kaplan University, serving in roles such as associate dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and department chair in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Brand earned her doctorate in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Florida.
Naomi Yavneh Klos has been appointed dean of the Honors College at the University of New Mexico. She currently serves as the Reverend Emmett M. Bienvenu, SJ, Distinguished Chair in Humanities and professor of languages and cultures at Loyola University New Orleans. Earlier in her tenure, she served as director of Loyola’s University Honors Program.
Dr. Yavneh Klos is a graduate of Princeton University. She received her master’s degree and Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of California, Berkeley.