Universities Appoint Nine Women Scholars to Positions as Deans

Mary Koithan will be the next dean of the College of Nursing at Washington State University. Dr. Koithan comes from the University of Arizona, where she was associate dean for student and community engagement for the College of Nursing and the Anne Furrow Professor of Integrative Nursing.

Dr. Koithan completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Cincinnati and received her master’s at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado.

Brooke Berry was appointed dean of students at Marymount University in Virginia. She also will direct the Office of Inclusion’s efforts to develop campus-wide principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice. She joined the university in 2019 as Title IX coordinator.

Brooke holds a juris doctorate from the University of Iowa and a bachelor’s degree from North Carolina A&T State University.

Deborah Keyek-Franssen will be the new associate vice president and dean of continuing and online education at the University of Utah. She has been serving as associate vice president for digital education and engagement for the University of Colorado System. From 2007 to 2013, Dr. Keyek-Franssen was director of academic technology at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Dr. Keyek-Franssen earned a bachelor’s degree at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, where she majored in German. She holds two master’s degrees — in Germanic languages and higher and postsecondary education — and a Ph.D. in Germanic languages and literatures from the University of Michigan.

Shanna Hagan-Burke has been selected as dean of the School of Education at Baylor University in Texas, effective July 1. She has been serving as professor of special education and head of the department of educational psychology at Texas A&M University’s College of Education and Human Development. Dr. Hagan-Burke served on the faculties at the University of Georgia and the University of Oregon before joining the Texas A&M faculty in 2005.

Dr. Hagen-Burke earned a bachelor’s degree in special education and teaching and a master’s degree in clinical teaching from the University of West Florida. She holds a Ph.D. in special education from the University of Oregon.

Rachel Dunifon has been named the Rebecca Q. and James C. Morgan Dean of the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, effective July 1. She has served as interim dean for the past two years. Dr. Dunifon joined the Cornell faculty in 2001 as a professor of policy analysis and management specializing in child and family policy.

Dr. Dunifon earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Davidson College in North Carolina and a Ph.D. in human development and social policy from Northwestern University.

Lori Schumacher Anderson was named dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina. She has been serving as dean of nursing in the College of Health Sciences at Tusculum University in Greeneville, Tennessee. Earlier in her career, Dr. Anderson served on the faculty of Augusta University in Georgia for 18 years.

Dr. Anderson holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. She earned a master’s degree in nursing from the University of Minnesota and a doctorate in nursing from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh

Cassandra Hill has been named the next dean of the Northern Illinois University College of Law. When she takes office on July 1, Hill will be the first African-American woman to lead the law school. Hill currently serves as the associate dean for academic affairs at Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University. She is the co-author of the book, Legal Analysis: 100 Exercises for Mastery, Practice for Every Law Student (Carolina Academic Press, Second Edition, 2017).

Hill is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where she majored in mathematics and Spanish. She earned a juris doctorate at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Natasha Vijay Munshi has been named the new dean of the W. Fielding Rubel School of Business at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Munshi has been serving as associate dean of graduate business in the School of Economics and Business Administration at Saint Mary’s College of California. She will begin her new job on August 1.

Dr. Munshi holds a bachelor’s degree in zoology and biochemistry from St. Xavier’s College at the University of Bombay in India. She earned a master’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, an MBA from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, and a Ph.D. in management from the University of Pittsburgh.

Karen Sedatole was appointed interim dean of the Goizueta Business School at Emory University in Atlanta. She joined the accounting faculty in 2017 after 11 years at Michigan State University’s Broad College of Business. She is expected to serve as interim dean for 18 months.

Professor Sedatole earned her bachelor’s degree from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. She holds an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business and a  Ph.D. from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.