Six Women Who Have Been Appointed to University Dean Positions

Clementina D. Ceria-Ulep has been appointed dean of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Nancy Atmospera-Walch School of Nursing. She has served as acting dean from August 1 to October 31, 2021, and as interim dean since November 1, 2021. Dr. Ceria-Ulep joined the School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene faculty at the University of Hawai’i Mānoa in 1993.

Dr. Ceria-Ulep earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in nursing administration from the University of Hawai’i Mānoa. She received a Ph.D. in nursing administration from the Medical College of Virginia.

Jackie Krasas was appointed dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, effective July 1. She currently serves as deputy provost for faculty affairs at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Her most recent book is Still a Mother: Noncustodial Mothers, Gendered Institutions, and Social Change (Cornell University Press, 2021).

Dr. Krasas holds a bachelor’s degree in social relations from Lehigh University. She earned a master’s degree and Ph.D. in sociology with a specialty in gender studies from the University of Southern California.

Kristina K. Bethea Odejimi was named dean of students and associate vice president for belonging, engagement, and community at Emory University in Atlanta, effective June 1. Dr. Odejimi currently serves as dean of students at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.

Dr. Odejimi is a graduate of Denison University in Granville, Ohio. She holds a master’s degree in education from the University of Virginia and a doctorate in educational leadership from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Jennifer Allen, Portland Professor of Environmental and Natural Resource Policy in the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University in Oregon, was named interim dean of the College of Urban and Public Affairs. She joined the university in 2003 and has served as the director of the Institute for Sustainable Solutions.

Dr. Allen is a graduate of Yale University, where she majored in American studies. She holds a master’s degree in environmental management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and a Ph.D. in environmental science and public policy from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

Tina Freiburger was named dean of the new College of Community Engagement & Professions at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She has been serving as dean of the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare and the School of Education and interim dean of the School of Information Studies. Dr. Freiburger joined the faculty at the university in 2007.

Professor Freiburger earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. She holds a master’s degree in criminal justice and criminology from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, and a doctorate in criminology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Yolanda Pierce was appointed dean of the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, effective July 1. Since 2017, she has been dean of the Howard University Divinity School in Washington, D.C. Earlier, Dr. Pierce was the Elmer C. Homrighausen Associate Professor of Religion and Literature and director of the Black Church Studies program at the Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey.

Dr. Pierce is a graduate of Princeton University, where she majored in English and religion. She holds two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. in religion and literature from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.