Four Women Scholars Appointed to Positions as Deans at Universities

Charlene Wolf-Hall has been named the founding dean of the College of Natural Sciences at South Dakota State University. She currently serves as vice provost for academic affairs at North Dakota State University.

Dr. Wolf-Hall holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree both in microbiology from South Dakota State University and a Ph.D. in food science and technology with an emphasis in food microbiology and food toxicology from the University of Nebraska.

Nancy Cohen has been named interim dean of the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She currently serves as a professor of nutrition and a senior planning officer in the Chancellor’s Office at the university.

Dr. Cohen holds a bachelor’s degree in nutritional science from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in nutrition science with a minor in physiological biochemistry from the University of California, Davis.

Georgette Chapman Phillips has been reappointed as the Kevin and Lisa A. Clayton Dean of the College of Business and Economics at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She has been dean since 2014 and also serves as a professor in the department of finance and the African studies program.

Professor Phillips holds a bachelor’s degree in political science with a concentration in Hispanic studies from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and a juris doctorate from Harvard Law School.

Sherine O. Obare has been named dean of the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and North Carolina A&T State University. She currently serves as associate vice president for research and professor of chemistry at West Michigan University.

Dr. Obare holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry with a minor in biology from West Virginia State University and a Ph.D. in inorganic/analytical chemistry from the University of South Carolina.