he University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has appointed Emory H. Woodard IV, PhD as the new Dean of Graduate Studies. 

Dr. Woodard will oversee the 23 graduate programs that the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers. The graduate programs offered at the College include education, gender and women’s studies, theology and history. There are currently 1,300 students enrolled in graduate prgrams at the University.

“Dr. Woodard’s excellent administrative skills and experience make him the ideal person to become the next leader of the College’s PhD and master’s programs,” Dean of Villanova University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Adele Lindenmeyr, PhD said. “Dr. Woodard’s compelling vision for the future also accords well with the emphasis the University is placing on graduate education.”

Dr. Woodard received his PhD and his MA in Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. He has been with the University since 2000 and is an associate professor in the Communication Department. He also serves as a coordinator in media studies in the Communication Department.

In his research, Dr. Woodard studies the experiences of audiences with the media, focusing mainly on the elderly, children, African-Americans and disadvantaged peoples. Along with this, Dr. Woodard also studies aspects of consumer culture and advertiser-supported media.

Dr. Woodard’s involvement in graduate studies began as a founding member of the committee of the graduate program in Communication in the college. With the graduate program, he was the program director from 2007 to 2011. The same program received the Outstanding Master’s Degree Program award from the National Communication Association in 2015. 

In addition to this, Dr. Woodard is a founding committee member of the Waterhouse Family Institute. The Institute aims to “highlight the centrality of Communication in the creation of social change,” according to the Waterhouse Family Institute website.

“I want to offer graduate education as not only a means of professional success but a way to prepare students for the lifelong learning necessary to be the change agents our world needs,” Woodard said. “I am honored by this appointment, and look forward to working with our dedicated faculty and staff in our efforts to develop the next generation of scholars at the highest level.”

Dr. Woodard’s three-year term as Dean of Graduate Studies will begin in June 2019.