Three African American Scholars Appointed to Dean Positions at Southern Universities

Sharon E. Williams has been appointed interim dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina. Dr. Williams joined the social work faculty at the university in 2011. After a brief period of retirement in 2016, she returned to Fayetteville State University as the interim associate dean of the new School of Social Work in November of 2017 and was named associate dean in 2018.

Dr. Williams is a graduate of Albany State University in Georgia. She holds a master of social work degree from Delaware State University and a Ph.D. in social work from Florida State University.

Brandon Common was appointed associate vice president for student affairs and dean of students at Louisiana State University. He has been serving as assistant vice president of student affairs for campus life at Illinois Wesleyan University. He will begin his new job on December 7.

Dr. Common received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He holds a master’s degree from Ohio University and a Ph.D. in educational organization and leadership in higher education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Nichole Lewis is the new dean of students at Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina. She has been serving as director of the Women’s Center at North Carolina Central University in Durham. Earlier, Dr. Lewis was the executive director of the Belk Professional Development Center at Saint Augustine’s University in Raleigh.

Dr. Lewis is a graduate of Hampton University in Virginia, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in mass media. She holds an MBA from Temple University in Philadelphia and a doctoral degree in higher education administration from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina.

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