Dr. Edith Barrett named Dean of School of Arts, Science & Business
Dr. Edith Barrett
Chatham University is pleased to welcome Dr. Edith Barrett as the new Dean of Chatham’s School of Arts, Science and Business, effective August 1, 2022.
Dr. Barrett joins the Chatham community after serving in academic leadership roles at the University of Connecticut and the University of Texas at Arlington. Most recently, she served as Associate Dean for Social Sciences, Regional Campuses, and Community and Global Affairs in the University of Connecticut’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Prior to this position, Dr. Barrett was the Director of the Urban and Community Studies program. During her tenure at UConn, she helped develop new programs and modify existing programs, especially expanding interdisciplinary majors designed to fit the changing needs of society.
Mentoring junior faculty members has been an important part of Dr. Barrett’s leadership. As a tenured faculty member, she served on UT Arlington’s Committee for the Status of Women and Minorities, a program designed to expand the research and teaching support network for tenure-track faculty members through peer mentoring and engagement with faculty with similar research interests across the university to build potential collaborative partnerships.
Building upon Chatham’s values and traditions, Dr. Barrett is especially appreciative of the liberal arts college experience having begun her career on the faculty at Brown University where she taught, advised, and did research with undergraduate students. Throughout her career, Dr. Barret has focused on the priority of student engagement in the community, supporting a culture of diversity and inclusivity, and engaging faculty dedicated to teaching, scholarship, and service. Dr. Barrett brings a rich background of research collaboration with scholars in the fields of city planning, education, nursing, political science, preventive medicine, psychology, public administration, public health, public policy, social work, and sociology, and experience as the director of an interdisciplinary undergraduate program. She has a substantial history of working with colleagues across the disciplines and welcomes the opportunity to discover synergies that would enhance the academic experiences for all students and bring together faculty in innovative cross-disciplinary research and teaching collaborations.
Dr. Barrett received her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Baylor University, and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Psychology from Northwestern University. Dr. Barrett's doctoral work was in the area of Methodology and Program Evaluation, and she has effectively used these skills to evaluate academic programs and university initiatives, as well as community programs and public policies thorough engagement in regional and programmatic accreditation processes.