Here’s a look at the deans, directors, and department heads recently hired or appointed for the new academic year, arranged by college:
Herbert College of Agriculture
Dwight Loveday, associate professor of food science, is interim head of the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications.
Lisa Muller will become acting interim department head of Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries on September 1. A search for a permanent department head will begin soon. Muller is a professor and director of the graduate program and has been at UT since 1999.
Fred Tompkins is interim dean for AgResearch. A national search will be conducted to fill the position. Tompkins formerly served as associate dean of the Tickle College of Engineering, president and CEO of the UT Research Foundation, and associate vice president for research and economic development.
Tickle College of Engineering
Mark Dean, the John Fisher Distinguished Professor in the Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, is interim dean of the college. He took over after Lynne Parker, who was serving as interim dean, stepped aside when she was selected to serve as assistant director for artificial intelligence for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Paul Frymier, professor, is interim associate dean for faculty affairs. He’s been at UT since 1995. He stepped in after Professor Lynne Parker was appointed interim dean of the college when former Dean Wayne T. Davis became interim chancellor.
Adrian Gonzalez is core facility manager for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering’s new Water Quality Core Facility, which provides water analysis on a fee basis to a wide range of clients, including UT research programs, federal and state agencies, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Tennessee Department of Transportation, and other academic institutions and private entities.
Greg Peterson is interim head of the Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He has been at UT since 2000 and has served as deputy director of the UT-ORNL Joint Institute for Computational Sciences and the National Institute for Computational Sciences.
Keith Stanfill is the first Edwards Assistant Dean and Director of Integrated Engineering Design. His mission will be to look for collaborative opportunities across the college’s seven departments and beyond to other colleges at UT and external industry partners. He comes to UT from University of Florida, where he was director of the Integrated Product and Process Design program.
College of Arts and Sciences
Gladys Alexandre, professor, is head of the Department of Biochemistry, Cellular, and Molecular Biology. She has been at UT since 2005.
Christine (Tina) Shepardson, a Lindsay Young Professor, is head of the Department of Religious Studies. She has been at UT since 2003.
Haslam College of Business
Michael Galbreth, professor, is head of the Department of Business Analytics and Statistics. An alumnus of the Haslam College of Business, he returns to the college after working at the University of South Carolina.
Mark Moon, associate professor, is interim head of the Department of Marketing. He has been at UT since 1993 and served as department head from 2011 to 2016.
College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences
Jana Spitzer is the director of advising and student services. She had been serving as interim director.
Jay Whelan, professor, is interim head of the Department of Public Health. Whelan has been at UT since 1991 and formerly served as head of the Department of Nutrition.
College of Law
Joy Radice, an associate professor, took over as director of the UT Legal Clinic effective July 1. She succeeds Interim Director Penny White, who had led the clinic since 2015.
College of Nursing
Roberta Lavin, who graduated from UT with a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1986 and a master’s degree in nursing in 1991, is executive associate dean of academics. She comes from the University of Missouri–St. Louis where she was a professor and associate dean of academic programs.
College of Social Work
Shandra Forrest-Bank is director of the Social Work Office of Research and Public Service (SWORPS). Forrest-Bank is a tenured associate professor who has more than 10 years of administrative and managerial experience working in community-based addiction treatment programs at the University of Colorado, Denver.
Lisa Reyes Mason is director of the PhD program. An assistant professor, she has been at UT since 2013. Mason is an expert in social justice dimensions of climate change and is also a national network co-leader for the grand challenge to create social responses to a changing environment as defined by the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare.
Division of Student Life
Jerry Bush is director of Student Media. He had been serving as interim director.
Kelly Rubin is associate dean of students. She comes to UT from Radford University, where she was director of Substance Abuse and Violence Education Support (SAVES).
Jill Zambito is assistant vice chancellor for student life. She comes to UT from Northern Illinois University, where she was director of student involvement and leadership development.
University Libraries
Teresa Berry, associate professor, is assistant head of liaison programs. She has served as the coordinator of research services since 2014, and initially joined the libraries as a reference librarian in 1992.
Michelle Brannen, assistant professor, is interim head of the Scholars’ Collaborative. She joined the libraries as a staff member in 1998 and has served as the media librarian since 2013.
Regina Mays, associate professor, is interim head of Assessment Programs and Collection Strategy. She was appointed assessment librarian in 2011 and has served as coordinator of strategic planning and assessment since 2017.
Holly Mercer, professor, is now senior associate dean. She has served as associate dean since January 2012.
Ingrid Ruffin, assistant professor, is interim head of the Learning Commons. She has served as the coordinator of student success and the Learning Commons since July 2017 and before that as student success librarian for First-Year Programs from 2014 to 2017. She joined the libraries as diversity resident librarian in 2012.
Anna Sandelli, assistant professor, is interim head of teaching and learning programs. Anna has served as student success librarian for user experience and instructional assessment since July 2017 and, before that, as student success librarian for undergraduate user experience from 2014 to 2017.
