August 22, 2017
Dear Students and Colleagues,
It is with pleasure that I announce the appointment of Dr. Jessica Murphy, Associate Professor of Literary Studies in the School of Arts and Humanities, as our next Dean of Undergraduate Education and Mary McDermott Cook Chair of Undergraduate Education and Research, effective September 1, 2017.
Dr. Murphy joined our faculty in 2009, after receiving her doctorate from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She earned her undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, from Hunter College, CUNY, in 2001. In 2013, Dr. Murphy was a recipient of the Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award. Her scholarly interests include English Renaissance literature and culture, early modern women’s writing, gender studies, Shakespeare, and pedagogy.
Dr. Murphy currently serves as co-director of the Quality Enhancement Plan, Orbit: Keeping New Comets on Course, associated with UT Dallas’ 2018 process of reaffirmation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. She also serves as a member of The University of Texas System Student Success Affinity Group on “Belonging.”
I would like to thank the Search Committee for its efforts in soliciting, identifying, and reviewing a group of excellent candidates, and the larger campus community for participating in a comprehensive and thorough interview process.
Please join me in congratulating and welcoming Dean Murphy.
Sincerely,
Inga H. Musselman
Interim Provost