COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES - Key Persons

Member of the Officers Team
Senior Associate
Senior Associate Dean for Development
Senior Associate Dean for Development Executive Director, Arts and Sciences Foundation

Anne H. C. Collins is senior associate dean for development in the College of Arts and Sciences and executive director of the Arts and Sciences Foundation. She has been serving in this position since September 2020. Previously, Collins served as the associate dean for development, the Foundation's No. 2 position, overseeing the entire major gift operation, including a team of 13 and raising gifts totaling $19.8 million in fiscal year 2020. Her work has been instrumental in the Foundation's fundraising success in the Campaign for Carolina. To date, the College has raised $715 million (95%) toward its goal of $750 million in the campaign. During her tenure, the College experienced back-to-back record-breaking fundraising years that increased giving by 140%. In her time at the Foundation, average yearly giving for the College has increased from $50 million to $100 million. Furthermore, Collins has led the strategy and planning, in partnership with the larger OneCarolina University Development Office, for the College in the University-wide Campaign for Carolina. Her work with the development committee for the Arts and Sciences Foundation Board of Directors has led to deeper engagement and support from the College's lead donors, and she has worked closely with a number of the College's other departmental and program advisory boards. Collins joined the Arts and Sciences Foundation in 2011 as the major gift officer for Honors Carolina. She has raised $32 million for Honors Carolina and worked closely with the Honors Carolina board to develop and implement innovative programs and initiatives. Collins has subsequently served as both director and senior director of development for the College of Arts and Sciences Foundation. Collins began her career in development at Positive Coaching Alliance, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California. She holds a B.A. in religious studies and a minor in bioethics from the University of Virginia.

Ashley E. Reid

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Member of the Board
Member of the Officers Team

Ashlyn Coelho-Allen

as..@unc.edu

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Donor Relations and Communications Specialist

Bimal R. Shah

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Member of the Board

Blake L. Pike

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Member of the Board

Colleen Sisneros

co..@unc.edu

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Senior Director of Development

Daniel J. Kelly

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Member of the Board

Danielle Watson

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Executive Assistant

David L. Ward

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Member of the Emeritus

David M. Knott

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Member of the Board

Dorothea "Dory" Jenkins Clark

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Member of the Board

Douglas B. Biggs

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Member of the Board

Dr. Abigail Panter

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Member of the University
Senior Associate Dean, Undergraduate Education

Dr. Abigail Panter (B.A., Wellesley College, 1985; Ph.D., New York University, 1989) is the Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and a professor of psychology and neuroscience in the L.L. Thurstone Psychometric Laboratory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As a quantitative psychologist, she develops instruments, research designs and data-analytic strategies for applied research questions in higher education, personality and health. She serves as a program evaluator for UNC's Chancellor's Science Scholars Program, a multisite adaptation of the successful Meyerhoff Program. She was also principal investigator for The Finish Line Project, a $3 million First in the World grant from the U.S. Department of Education that systematically investigated new supports and academic initiatives, especially for first-generation college students. Her books include:The APA Handbook of Research Methods in Psychology (2023, 2nd ed.),The APA Dictionary of Terms in Statistics and Research Methods (2013), The Handbook of Ethics in Quantitative Methodology (2011), The Sage Handbook of Methods in Social Psychology (2004), as well as volumes on program evaluation for HIV/AIDS multisite projects. At the undergraduate level she teaches statistics, research methods and a first-year seminar on communicating research results to others ("Talking about Numbers"). At the doctoral level she teaches courses in research design, classical and modern approaches to instrument/survey design, and test theory and multivariate methods. Panter received numerous awards for her teaching and mentoring, including the Tanner Award, the J. Carlyle Sitterson Award, a Bowman and Gordon Gray Distinguished Professorship and APA's Jacob Cohen Award for Distinguished Teaching and Mentoring. She is past president of the American Psychological Association's (APA) Division on Quantitative and Qualitative Psychology and an APA fellow. She previously served on the Graduate Record Examination Advisory Board, a Social Security Administration advisory panel related to disability determination and APA's Committee on Psychological Testing and Assessment. She regularly provides services for federal agencies, national advisory panels and editorial boards. Panter has been a member of the University faculty since 1989. As senior associate dean, she and her leadership team ask the question each day, "Is this in the best interest of the student?" She oversees all of the College's programs in undergraduate education: Thrive Advising Hubs, Undergraduate Research, the Center for Student Success (including the Learning Center, the Writing Center, Peer Mentoring and Summer Bridge), Undergraduate Curricula (including First Year Seminars), the Office of Instructional Innovation, Robertson Scholars Leadership Program and Honors Carolina. Among her active work on campus, she has helped develop the new general education curriculum, IDEAs in Action, a new holistic case management model of academic advising, programs to increase the high-impact academic experiences for undergraduate students and research about those experiences, security in the classroom, and ways to support students as they approach graduation.

Dr. Elizabeth Engelhardt

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Member of the Officers Team
Senior Associate
Senior Associate Dean, Fine Arts & Humanities

Dr. Elizabeth Engelhardt is Senior Associate Dean for Fine Arts & Humanities. As senior associate dean, Engelhardt oversees the departments of American Studies, Art and Art History, Classics, Communication, Dramatic Art and PlayMakers Repertory Company, English and Comparative Literature, Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures, Linguistics, Music, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Romance Studies, and Women's and Gender Studies. Her responsibilities also include oversight of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities, Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Carolina Public Humanities, Sexuality Studies, the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies, and the Center for the Study of the American South. She also works closely with the College's Director of Faculty Diversity Initiatives on issues of recruitment, development and retention of faculty. Engelhardt, Kenan Eminent Professor of Southern Studies, joined the UNC American Studies faculty in 2015, returning to her home state after more than a decade at the University of Texas at Austin. She served as chair of American Studies from 2017 to March 2019 and as interim senior associate dean for fine arts and humanities from March 2019 to March 2020. As American Studies chair, she supported numerous innovations in the department, including its promotion of engaged scholarship, graduate education using digital and nontraditional dissertation forms and its successful participation in the Campaign for Carolina. As a teacher, she has inspired her students to become knowledge producers and original creators, and as a researcher and author, she has advanced understanding of Southern food and culture. She serves on the board of UNC Press. Engelhardt is a proud graduate of the Hendersonville, North Carolina, public school system. She graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in English Literature and a Certificate in Women's Studies from Duke University, and a master's and Ph.D. in Women's Studies from Emory University's Institute for Women's Studies. She is the author or editor of several books on Southern food and Appalachian culture. Her upcoming book project is The Lost Story of the Southern Boardinghouse.

Dr. Karla Slocum

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Senior Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Dr. Karla Slocum was named the inaugural senior associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion, effective September 1, 2022. In her role, she leads strategic directions for diversity, equity and inclusion among faculty and staff in the College. Karla has distinguished herself as a leader in her more than 25 years at Carolina. She is currently a professor in the department of anthropology. From 2013 to 2021, she served as director of the Institute of African American Research (IAAR) and, from 2002-2006, she was co-director of the Moore Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (MURAP). At IAAR, she led a number of programs that facilitated and raised the visibility of diverse approaches to scholarship and community engagement on race. For example, she founded and oversaw Student Learning to Advance Truth and Equity, an initiative to engage undergraduates in a critical understanding of race, racism and racial equity, especially as they concern African Americans. She also co-chaired Black Communities: A Conference for Collaboration. Slocum has spearheaded and previously co-chaired the anthropology department's concentration on Race, Difference and Power; was the senior faculty mentor for the Carolina Postdoctoral Program for Faculty Diversity; and served as a board member for the Latina/o studies minor, the Duke-UNC Consortium for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, the Center for the Study of the American South and the Stone Center for Black Culture and History. She has taught courses on gender and culture; race, ethnography and Black communities; and Caribbean societies. Her research interests focus on the social dynamics of race and community, especially focusing on historic Black communities. Most recently, she is the author of Black Towns, Black Futures: The Enduring Allure of a Black Place in the American West.

Dr. Kelly Giovanello

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Associate Dean
Associate Dean for Research
Associate Dean, Research and Innovation

Giovanello is the Bowman and Gordon Gray Distinguished Term Professor in the department of psychology and neuroscience and has been a member of the Carolina faculty since 2006. She brings a wealth of multidisciplinary collaborative research experience to this position. Giovanello previously served as a member of the Arts and Sciences Advisory Committee and is a graduate of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities' Academic Leadership Program. Dr. Kelly Giovanello is the Associate Dean for Research and Innovation in the College of Arts and Sciences. The associate dean for research and innovation is a member of the dean's senior leadership team and works closely with the senior … Read more

Dr. Noreen McDonald

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Senior Associate
Member of the UNC
Senior Associate Dean for Social Sciences
Senior Associate Dean, Social Sciences and Global Programs

Dr. Noreen McDonald is Senior Associate Dean for Social Sciences and Global Programs in the College of Arts and Sciences. As senior associate dean, McDonald oversees the departments/curricula and other units in the social sciences: aerospace studies; African, African American and diaspora studies; anthropology; archaeology; Asian and Middle Eastern studies; city and regional planning; economics; geography; history; military science; naval science; peace, war and defense; political science; public policy; sociology; and the Center for Urban and Regional Studies. She also oversees the global programs of the College that are housed in the FedEx Global Education Center: the curriculum in global studies, the Office of Study Abroad, African Studies Center, Carolina Asia Center, Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies, Center for European Studies, Institute for the Study of the Americas, and the Center for Slavic, Eurasian and East European Studies. McDonald has been a member of the UNC faculty since 2007. Since 2016, she has served as chair of the department of city and regional planning. She is also the associate director of both the Collaborative Sciences Center for Road Safety and the Southeastern Transportation Research, Innovation, Education and Development Center. McDonald's scholarship is at the intersection of city planning and public health. Her current projects focus on how transport technology, policy and COVID-19 impact road safety, goods movement and access to healthcare. She is an internationally recognized expert on the travel behavior of youth and young adults. Her work has demonstrated the road safety and physical activity impacts of transport and school infrastructure. Her most recent work explores disruptions associated with shared mobility, e.g., Uber/Lyft and autonomous vehicles. She received her undergraduate degree in engineering and chemistry from Harvard University and her Ph.D. in city planning from UC Berkeley. Prior to her work in academia, she was a consultant for Cambridge Systematics and Mercer Management Consulting (now Oliver Wyman). Dr. Noreen McDonald is Senior Associate Dean for Social Sciences and Global Programs in the College of Arts and Sciences. As senior associate dean, McDonald oversees the departments/curricula and other units in the social sciences: aerospace studies; African, African American … Read more

Duywuna Millner

Elizabeth Bakanic

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Member of the Officers Team

Elizabeth S. Dowd

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Member of the Emeritus

Erin Bland

er..@unc.edu

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Associate Director of Donor Relations

Eva Smith Davis

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Member of the Board

Genell Lyons

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Executive Assistant
Member of the Administrative Team

Geneva Collins - CCO

ge..@unc.edu

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Director of Communications

Geneva Collins has served as director of communications in the College of Arts and Sciences since 2014. She directs the communications team and oversees the college.unc.edu website, twice-yearly Carolina Arts & Sciences magazine (and companion website) and the College's social media presence. She also handles executive communications and works closely with other senior communications directors across campus. Collins came to UNC-Chapel Hill from Georgetown University, where she was director of campaign and interactive communications for the Office of Advancement for six years during the university's successful $1.5 billion For Generations to Come campaign. Prior to moving into higher education, Collins had a long career in daily news journalism at The Washington Post and The Associated Press. She holds a master's degree in public relations and corporate communications from Georgetown University (specialization in digital communications) and a B.A. in journalism from Indiana University's School of Journalism.

Gina Moser

gm..@unc.edu

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Development Coordinator for the Institute for the Arts and Humanities

Grace Mercer Schott

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Member of the Board

Heidi Kim

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Division of the Humanities / English and Comparative

James L. Sigman

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Member of the Board

James L. Tanner Jr.

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Member of the Board

James W.C. White

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Dean
Member of the Officers Team
Craver Family Dean

James W.C. White is the inaugural Craver Family Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the largest school at the nation's oldest public university, with more than 17,000 undergraduate and 2,300 graduate students. It is also the university's third-largest research enterprise, bringing in about $135 million in research funding annually. White came to UNC-Chapel Hill in July 2022 from the University of Colorado Boulder, where he had served as acting dean of the College of Arts and Sciences for five years and had been a faculty member in the department of geological sciences since 1989. In his first year at Carolina, White oversaw the launch of IDEAs in Action, a reimagined general education curriculum that emphasizes experiential learning and teaches skills for students to become lifelong learners, such as thinking critically, working collaboratively and communicating persuasively. White is a passionate and tireless supporter of the enduring value of a broad-based liberal arts education. He believes that public universities should embrace diversity in its broad sense to ensure that its student body and faculty reflect the people in the state they serve. As such, he believes that diversity, equity and inclusion are fundamental tenets of the arts and sciences. Under his leadership, the College began implementation of a three-year DEI strategic plan, Action Steps for Equity. He also led the College during its final months of fundraising for the Campaign for Carolina. The school raised more than $764 million, far exceeding its $750 million campaign goal in the $5.1 billion university-wide campaign, with funds supporting students, faculty and strategic programs. An internationally recognized expert in climate science, White has published some 200 peer-reviewed journal articles, is a highly cited researcher in the field and regularly gives public talks on climate change and sustainability. He was elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2014. At Carolina, he is faculty member in the department of earth, marine and environmental sciences and continues to pursue his research, which focuses on past behaviors of the Earth's climate system, the evidence for rapid climate change in the past, and the dynamics of the modern carbon cycle. White earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry at Florida State University and master's and doctoral degrees in geological sciences from Columbia University.