Nine Women Scholars Who Are Taking on New Assignments as Deans

Arpana G. Inman was named dean of the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She has been serving as associate dean for academic affairs for the College of Education and Human Ecology at Oho State University. Earlier, she served as chair and associate dean for graduate studies in the College of Education at Lehigh Univerity in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Inman holds a master’s degree in psychology from Pune University in India. She earned a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Temple University in Philadelphia.

Malin Pereira has been appointed dean of the Honors College at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Dr. Pereira came to the university in 1992 and has spent her entire 30-year academic career at the university, including serving as the executive director of the Honors College since 2012. She is a professor of English.

Professor Pereira holds a bachelor’s degree in English and psychology with a minor in African American studies and a master’s degree and a doctorate in English, all from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Twinette Johnson has been appointed acting dean of the David A. Clarke School of Law at the University of the District of Columbia, effective August 1. Dr. Johnson is currently the associate dean for academic affairs at the law school. Prior to joining the faculty in 2017, Professor Johnson was an associate professor of law and director of the Academic Success Program at Southern Illinois University School of Law.

Dr. Johnson holds a bachelor’s degree in English and a Ph.D. from Saint Louis University. She earned a juris doctorate at Tulane University in New Orleans.

Nicole Becker Hoerschelmann is the new dean of the Knight School of Communication at Queens University in Charlotte, North Carolina. Dr. Hoerschelmann served most recently as the associate dean of the College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Dr. Hoerschelmann was born in Bremen, Germany, and studied Chinese, American studies, English literature, and geography at the University of Tübingen. She earned a master’s degree in communication at the University of Missouri and a Ph.D. in mass communication and cultural studies at Indiana University, Bloomington.

Sherry Ryan will be the next dean of the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs at Baruch College of the City University of New York, starting September 1. She has been serving as director of the School of Public Affairs at San Diego State University, where she was also a professor of city planning.

Dr. Ryan is a graduate of Princeton University in New Jersey. She earned a master’s degree in civil engineering and a Ph.D. in transportation science from the University of California, Irvine.

Janelle L. West was appointed interim dean of the Center for Graduate and Continuing Studies at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania. Since 2019, she has served as associate dean and a member of the faculty in the university’s Center for Education.

Dr. West is a graduate of Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in business administration. She holds a master of public administration degree from Pennsylvania State University Harrisburg and a master’s degree and a doctorate in higher education leadership from Widener University.

Kendra Hall-Kenyon was named the interim dean of the David O. McKay School of Education at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. She has been a faculty member at the university since 2002.

Dr. Hall-Kenyon earned a bachelor’s degree in family science from Brigham Young University. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in human development from Columbia University in New York City.

Dara N. Byrne will be the fourth dean of the Macaulay Honors College at the City University of New York. Since 2016, she has been associate provost for undergraduate retention and dean of undergraduate studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, her academic home since 2003.

Dr. Byrne earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Carleton Univerity in Ottawa, Canada. She holds a Ph.D. in rhetoric and intercultural communication from Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Amy Lynn Seybert, who has served the past 12 years as chair of the department of pharmacy and therapeutics at the University of Pittsburgh, has been named the new dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy. Her research focuses on the scholarship of education using simulation as well as improvement of clinical outcomes in cardiovascular disease and critical care, with an emphasis on medication safety.

Dr. Seybert completed her undergraduate and doctoral education in pharmacy at the University of Pittsburgh.