A Half Dozen Women Appointed to Dean Positions at Colleges and Universities

Cheryl Anderson, an epidemiologist known for her insights about how diet and nutrition factor into the development of heart and kidney disease and cancer, has been named founding dean of Wertheim School of Public Health at the University of California, San Diego. She will be the first Black woman dean in the nearly 60-year history of the campus. She is a professor of public health education at the university and joined the faculty in 2012.

Dr. Anderson earned a bachelor’s degree at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She holds a master of public health degree from the University of North Carolina and a master’s degree and a doctorate in epidemiology from the University of Washington.

Sharon Wise is the new dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Utica College in New York. A professor of biology, her research has focused on the effects of artificial night lighting on the activity and growth of amphibians.

Professor Wise earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in environmental and evolutionary biology from the University of Louisiana, Lafayette.

Diana Hess has been reappointed as dean of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Hess joined the faculty in 1999 and holds the Karen A. Falk Distinguished Chair of Education. She is co-author of The Political Classroom: Evidence and Ethics in Democratic Education (Routledge 2014).

Professor Hess is a graduate of Western Illinois University. She earned a master’s degree at the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from the University of Washington.

Judith A. Ponticell was appointed interim dean of the College of Education at the University of South Florida. She is a professor and chair of the department of leadership, counseling, adult, career, and higher education. Earlier, Dr. Ponticell held faculty and administrative appointments at the University of New Mexico, Texas Tech University, and the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Dr. Ponticell holds a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s degree in English from Chicago State University. She earned a master’s degree in education and a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Jasmine Alinder was named dean of our Humanities Division at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Since 2017, she has been a professor of history and associate dean of the humanities in the College of Letters and Science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Professor Alinder is a graduate of Princeton University in New Jersey, where she majored in art history. She holds a master’s degree in art history from the University of New Mexico and a Ph.D. in the history of art from the University of Michigan.

Carissa Schively Slotterback, associate dean of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, has been named dean of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. She will begin her deanship on October 1 and will join the faculty as a full professor.

Dr. Slotterback is a graduate of Winona State University in Minnesota. She earned a master’s degree in city and regional planning from Clemson University in South Carolina and a Ph.D. in urban and regional planning from Florida State University.