Three African Americans Who Have Been Names to Dean Positions

Alma B. Littles is the new interim dean of the College of Medicine at Florida State University. She has served as senior associate dean for medical education and academic affairs at the medical school for nearly 20 years. She practiced family medicine in the Florida Panhandle before joining the academic world.

The youngest of 12 children in her family, Dr. Littles is a graduate of the University of Florida and the University of Florida College of Medicine.

Cameron Rashad Thomas has been named assistant vice president and dean of the chapel at Talladega College in Alabama. Rev. Thomas comes to Talladega College from Samford University in Birmingham, where he served as director of diversity enrichment and relations. Prior to directing the university’s diversity initiatives, he served as a multicultural recruiter in Samford University’s admissions office. Thomas accepted his call into the ministry at age 14 and, in 2013, at age 20, he became the youngest pastor in the history of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Cropwell, Alabama.

Rev. Thomas is a graduate of Samford University, where he majored in religion and minored in marketing. He holds a master of divinity degree from the Beeson Divinity School at Samford University and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in preaching at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

Ja’Wanda Grant was appointed vice president and dean of students at Maryville College in Maryville, Tennessee, effective April 13. She has been serving as manager of educational and pathway programs at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and previously served as the laboratory’s lead for university and student affairs.

Dr. Grant earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Mississippi. She holds a doctorate in pharmaceutical sciences from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis.

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