A Quartet of Women Who Have Been Appointed Deans at Universities

Eleanor Feingold, a statistical geneticist, has been named dean of Oregon State University’s College of Science. She will start on October 31. Dr. Feingold has worked at the University of Pittsburgh since 1997. She has served at the university’s School of Public Health as associate dean for education, vice dean, chair of the department of human genetics, and most recently as associate dean for data analytics and special projects.

Professor Feingold received a bachelor’s degree in humanities from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She earned a doctorate in statistics from Stanford University.

Catherine Ingrassi has been appointed dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University. A professor of English, Dr. Ingrassi has been serving as interim dean. Dr. Ingrassia began her career at the university in 1992 as an assistant professor of English and rose through the ranks of promotion and tenure to become associate professor in 1998 and full professor in 2005. She was appointed chair of the department of English in 2019. Dr. Ingrassi has published seven books on 18th-century British literature, with a particular focus on women writers. Her most recent book is Domestic Captivity and the British Subject, 1660-1750 (University of Virginia Press, 2022).

Professor Ingrassi earned a bachelor’s degree in English and classics from Grinnell College in Iowa. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Texas at Austin.

Mellissa Just was appointed dean of libraries at the University of Southern California, effective November 27. She will hold the Valerie and Ronald Sugar Dean’s Chair. For more than six years she has been library dean at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada.

Dr. Just is a graduate of the University of California, Riverside. She earned a master of library and information science degree from the University of Texas at Austin and an educational doctorate at the University of Southern California.

Lina Blair has been named dean of student life at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan. Blair comes to Ferris after over six years with Grand Rapids Community College as director of student life and conduct. Before that, Blair had more than a decade of service at Northern Michigan University in varied roles, including assistant dean of students.

Blair, a native of Quincy, Illinois, earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in psychology, training, and development from Northern Michigan University.