Three Black Scholars Who Have Been Appointed to Dean Positions

Levon Esters has been named dean of the Graduate School and vice provost for graduate education at Pennsylvania State University, effective May 1. Currently, he is associate dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion and faculty affairs for Purdue University’s Polytechnic Institute. He is also a professor of agricultural sciences education. Prior to joining Purdue, Professor Esters was the coordinator of the Agriculture Teacher Education Program in Iowa State University’s College of Agriculture.

Dr. Esters is a graduate of Florida A&M University, where he majored in agricultural business. He holds a master’s degree in agricultural education from North Carolina A&T State University and a doctoral degree in agricultural and extension education from Pennsylvania State University.

Ann-Margaret Esnard will serve as the interim dean of the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University. She has been serving as the associate dean for research and a Distinguished University Professor of Public Management and Policy. Dr. Esnard joined the faculty at the university in 2013. She is the co-author of Geospatial Applications for Climate Adaptation Planning (Routledge, 2018).

Professor Esnard is a graduate of the University of the West Indies-Trinidad, where she majored in agricultural engineering. She holds a master’s degree in agronomy and soils from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez and a Ph.D. in regional planning from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Robert E. Bedford was appointed dean of students, housing, and residence life at Livingstone College in Salisbury, North Carolina. He is the former director for student involvement at Radford University in Virginia. Earlier, he served as assistant dean of students at Northeastern Illinois University.

Bedford holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and master’s degrees in counseling and higher education administration from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Get the JBHE Weekly Bulletin

Receive our weekly email newsletter delivered to your inbox

Latest News

Online Articles That May Be of Interest to JBHE Readers

Each week, JBHE will provide links to online articles that may be of interest to our readers. Here are this week’s selections.

Recent Books of Interest to African American Scholars

The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education regularly publishes a list of new books that may be of interest to our readers. The books included are on a wide variety of subjects and present many different points of view.

Higher Education Gifts or Grants of Interest to African Americans

Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.

In Memoriam: Nikki Giovanni, 1943-2024

Nikki Giovanni was a professor at Virginia Tech for 35 years. She was the author of numerous poetry collections, children's books, and works of nonfiction.

Featured Jobs