Four Black Scholars Taking On New Roles as Deans at Colleges and Universities

Nicola Boothe Perry has been named interim dean of the College of Law at Florida A&M University. She has been a faculty member at the law school since 2004 and currently serves as a full professor and associate dean for academic affairs.

Professor Perry is a graduate of the University of Florida. She holds a juris doctorate from Florida State University.

Kimberly Gaiters has been named dean of the Evelyn Reid Syphax School of Education at Virginia Union University. She was dean of academic affairs at Ferrum College in Virginia.

Dr. Gaiters holds three degrees from Albany State University in Georgia; a bachelor’s degree in English, a master of education degree in special education and teaching, and an education specialist degree in educational leadership and administration. She also holds a doctorate in curriculum studies from Georgia Southern University.

Philip Jefferson has been named vice president for academic affairs, dean of faculty, and the Paul B. Freeland endowed professor of economics at Davidson College in North Carolina. He currently serves as the Centennial Professor of Economics at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. He is the author of Poverty: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2018) and the editor of The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Poverty (Oxford University Press, 2012).

Dr. Jefferson is a graduate of Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York where he majored in economics. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Virginia.

Floyd Wormley has been named associate provost for research and dean of graduate studies at Texas Christian University. He currently holds multiple positions at the University of Texas at San Antonio including associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Sciences, associate program director of the UTSA Research Centers in Minority Institutions Program, and interim chair of the department of physics and astronomy.

Dr. Wormley is a graduate of Tulane University in New Orleans. He holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. both from the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans.

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