VCU College of Humanities and Sciences appoints dean

Jennifer Malat will be dean of the Virginia Commonwealth University College of Humanities and Sciences effective July 1, the university announced Tuesday.

Malat is currently the divisional dean for social sciences at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Arts and Sciences and oversees academic affairs, faculty affairs and research. Before serving as dean, she was the director of the university’s Kunz Center for Social Research. She also co-founded and co-directed The Cincinnati Project, a research initiative that connects arts and sciences researchers with organizations to conduct research for community benefit.

She has been with UC since 2000 and started as an associate professor of sociology. Malat focuses her research on how racial inequality affects the health of people in the U.S. She earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Minnesota and her master’s and doctorate degrees in sociology from the University of Michigan.

Don Young is currently serving as the interim dean of VCU College of Humanities and Sciences. The college enrolls approximately 14,000 students divided among two schools —the Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture and the School of World Studies — and 17 departments including hard sciences, english, sociology, history, psychology and others.