New Appointments for Graduate Studies
University Communications
University Reporter
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Dirk Messelaar Appointed Dean of Newly-Reconfigured Division |
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By Melissa Fassel
This past summer, Provost Charles Cnudde announced the names of a new team that will be working in the Office of Graduate Studies and Research this year. Ismael Ramirez-Soto will serve as interim vice provost for research and dean of graduate studies and Emily McDermott and Jack Archer will join him as interim associate deans.
Ismael Ramirez-Soto has served as dean of UMass Boston's College of Public and Community Service since 1995. He holds a J.D. from the University of Puerto Rico and an Ed.D. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Prior to coming to UMass Boston, Dean Ramirez-Soto was the executive director of the Puerto Rico Council of Higher Education for nine years, administering 10 campuses and serving 55,000 students. Faculty and staff have described him as a person with "vision, energy, complete integrity, technical mastery, a creative and independent thinker, and an active and inspiring leader."
Emily McDermott, professor of classics, has been employed at UMass Boston since 1974, holding several academic and administrative positions and serving on multiple committees. She holds a B.A. from Bryn Mawr College and a Ph.D. from Yale University, both in classics. Prof. McDermott has published a variety of works, the latest of which are two articles pertaining to the classical tradition in Classical and Modern Literature and one forthcoming on Euripides' Second Thoughts, Transactions of the American Philological Association. Last April, she accepted an invitation to lecture about metadrama in Euripides' Hippolytus at Bowdoin College. With service as chair of the Classics Department, assistant chancellor, and participation on the CAS general education committee, Prof. McDermott brings a wealth of information and experience to Graduate Studies and Research.
Jack Archer, associate dean of the Intercampus Graduate School of Marine Sciences and Technology, and professor in the Department of Environmental, Coastal, and Ocean Sciences, will join Ramirez-Soto and McDermott as an associate dean of graduate studies and research. Prof. Archer holds a L.L.M. in law and marine affairs from the University of Washington, a J.D. from the Hastings College of the Law at the University of California, San Francisco, and a B.A. and M.A. in English from the University of Texas. His professional experience includes positions at UMass Boston's Urban Harbors Institute, Vermont Law School, and the Marine Policy and Ocean Management Center at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Along with Michael Eppling and Craig Biegel, Prof. Archer is currently working on a publication entitled "Sustainable Development: Legal Issues and Incentives" for the UNESCO Encyclopedia of Life Support.
The new team's first responsibility will be to reorganize the graduate office, including the grants and contracts operation.