Dean's Office
Susan Welch is Dean of the College of the Liberal Arts and Professor
of Political Science at The Pennsylvania State University, positions
she has held since 1991. Before joining Penn State, she was the Carl
A. Happold Professor of Political Science at the University of Nebraska
Lincoln. Professor Welch is a specialist in American politics, particularly
urban, ethnic, and women's politics. Her current research interests
include women as congressional candidates, black-white relations in
multi cultural settings, and women coaches in collegiate sports. She
is the author of nearly 150 scholarly articles and six books, two textbooks
(including an American government textbook now in its eleventh edition),
and three edited collections. Her most recent books include Affirmative
Action and Minority Enrollments: The Impact of Bakke on Medical and
Law Schools, co-authored
with John Gruhl and published in 1998 by the University of Michigan
Press; and Race and Place: Residence and Race Relations in an American
City, coauthored
with Lee Sigelman, Tim Bledsoe, and Michael Combs published by Cambridge
University Press in 2001. She was recently named as one of the most
cited political scientists of her generation. Her work has been funded
by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Mental
Health, and the National Institute of Justice. |
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Contact Information:
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 Ray
Lombra is Associate Dean for Administration, Research and College Advancement
in the College of the Liberal Arts and Professor of Economics. He joined
the faculty in 1977 after serving as a senior staff economist at the Board
of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and became associate dean in
1992. A specialist in monetary economics with a focus on central bank policy,
financial markets and international finance, he was a popular and award
winning teacher of macro economics. He has published over 75 scholarly articles
and six books. His money and banking text (co-authored with Maureen Burton)
recently won an award as text of the year and his current published work
has helped explain some anomalies in asset pricing. |
| Contact Information: rlombra@psu.edu 105 Sparks Building For an appointment, contact Cathy Thompson, 865-9555 |
 Jack
Selzer, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies, joined the faculty in the Department of English in 1978. A specialist
in rhetoric and technical communication, he has published a number of articles
and books, including Understanding Scientific Prose, Kenneth Burke in Greenwich
Village, and Kenneth Burke in the 1930s (the last, with Ann George). In 2008
he began a two-year term as President of the Rhetoric Society of America.
Having served as Director of Composition and as Director of Graduate Studies
in English, he became Associate Dean in 2005. |
| Contact Information: jselzer@psu.edu 119 Sparks building For an appointment, contact Billie Moslak, 865-1438 |
 Denise Solomon is Associate Dean for Graduate Studies in the College of the Liberal Arts and Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences. Prior to joining Penn State in 2004, Professor Solomon was on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin, where she served terms as Associate Chair and Director of Graduate Studies. At Wisconsin, Professor Solomon also held college and university positions related to curriculum and degree requirements, general education, and educational assessment. Professor Solomon’s research focuses generally on the causes and consequences of turbulence in romantic associations, as well as how communication participates in those experiences. In particular, her work examines how transitions in romantic relationships promote relationship qualities that polarize cognitive, emotional, and communicative reactions to both ordinary and extraordinary experiences. In recent studies, Professor Solomon and her collaborators have examined how attention to relational turbulence sheds light on breast cancer survivorship and the experiences of couples coping with infertility. Other current projects are investigating the cognitive and physiological processes that may underlie turbulent relationship episodes. |
| Contact Information: dhs12@psu.edu 105 Sparks Building For an appointment, contact Brandy Bower, 865-1439 |
 Avis Kunz is Assistant Dean for On-line Education and Outreach. She manages the development and operation of the College's on-line and outreach portfolio, including the World Campus, Continuing Education, Conferences,
the Justice and Safety Institute, and other programs. With bachelor's and master's degrees in English, she earned her D.Ed from Penn State in adult education in 1990. In 1998, she became senior program developer for Outreach working with Liberal Arts on its outreach portfolio. In 2004 she moved to Liberal Arts as Director of Outreach, and in 2008, she was appointed as Assistant Dean. Under her leadership, the College's Outreach portfolio is among the most expansive in the University, including eight on-line degrees and dozens of general education courses offered through Penn State's World Campus. Before returning to Penn State, she had extensive experience at Colorado Mountain College as a program director of associate of arts, continuing education, and community education programs. |
| Contact Information: alm2@psu.edu 13 Sparks Building For an appointment, contact Sue Niessner, 863-3894 |