Eight Women Named to Dean Positions in Higher Education

Nan Ellin was appointed dean of the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Colorado at Denver. Dr. Ellin was the founding dean of the College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Arlington. Earlier in her career, Dr. Ellin was a professor and chair of the department of planning at the University of Utah.

Dr. Ellin is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, where she majored in anthropology and Hispanic studies. She holds a master’s degree in anthropology, a master’s degree in urban planning, and a Ph.D. in urban design, all from Columbia University in New York City.

Robin Cass was named interim dean of the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. She has been serving as senior associate dean. Cass joined the faculty in the glass program in the School of American Crafts at RIT in 1998.

Cass holds a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Rhode Island School of Design and a master of fine arts degree from Alfred University in New York.

Kate Walsh was appointed dean of the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University. She is the seventh dean of the school, but the first woman to hold the position. She has served as interim dean for the past year and is the E. M. Statler Professor at the school.

Dr. Walsh is a graduate of Fairfield University in Connecticut. She holds a master’s degree from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell and a Ph.D. in organizational studies from Boston College’s School of Management.

Bess Marcus will be the next dean of the School of Public Health at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, effective November 1. She has been serving as senior associate dean for public health at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. Dr. Marcus was a member of the Brown University faculty from 1991 to 2011.

Dr. Marcus is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, where she majored in psychology. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Auburn University in Alabama.

Tiffany Fountaine Boykin was appointed dean of student engagement at Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, Maryland. Dr. Boykin joined the college in 2016 as assistant dean of student services.

Dr. Boykin is a graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, where she majored in communication. She holds a master’s degree in communications management from Towson University in Maryland, a Ph.D. in higher education from Morgan State University, and a juris doctorate from the University of Baltimore School of Law.

Melinda Harm Benson was named dean of the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming. She has been serving as an associate professor of geography and environmental studies at the University of New Mexico. She joined the faculty there in 2008.

Benson is a graduate of the University of Oregon, where she majored in political science. She earned a law degree at the University of Idaho and a master’s degree in community counseling at the University of Wyoming.

Estella Atekwana was appointed dean of the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment at the University of Delaware. She has been serving as director of the School of Geology  and as the Regents Distinguished Professor of Geology at Oklahoma State University. She joined the faculty there in 2006 after teaching at the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

Professor Atekwana holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Howard University in Washington, D.C. She earned a Ph.D. in geophysics at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Jennifer King Rice will be the new dean of the College of Education at the University of Maryland, College Park. She has been serving as associate dean for graduate studies and professor of education policy. Dr. Rice joined the faculty at the University of Maryland in 1995. She is a past president of the Association for Education Finance and Policy.

Dr. Rice is a graduate of Marquette University in Milwaukee, where she majored in mathematics and English. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.