Anderson named dean of Ohio State's College of Dentistry

Carole Anderson, a respected administrator and faculty member at The Ohio State University, has been named dean of the university's College of Dentistry, effective February 1, 2009. Anderson has served as interim dean of the College of Dentistry since 2006, with a concurrent appointment as vice provost for academic policy and faculty resources.

During her 23-year career at Ohio State, Anderson served as interim dean of the Graduate School from April 2005 to September 2006. While serving as dean of the College of Nursing from 1986-2001, she was also the assistant vice president for health sciences and executive dean of the health sciences.

In announcing the appointment, Joseph A. Alutto, Ohio State's executive vice president and provost, said, "Carole is one of the most outstanding administrators I have ever worked with, and I am confident she will intelligently, honestly and openly continue to provide the leadership necessary to optimize the College of Dentistry's opportunities and address its challenges."

As dean, Anderson will step down from her vice provost position to focus her efforts on the needs of the college and meeting the first objectives she has set forth, which include moving forward on implementing the goals of the College of Dentistry's strategic plan, increasing diversity by focusing on the recruitment and retention of outstanding minority students and faculty members, and facilitating collaboration between the college and the medical center's health sciences units.

"I've learned a great deal in my two years as interim dean of this college, and I know what we need to move forward in making this one of the top professional schools in the nation," Anderson said. "We have many strengths to work with — our faculty members are outstanding in every respect; our students are among the best in the nation; and we have an ambitious strategic plan that's designed to move this college into a 'world-class' status. This is already a strong, well-respected organization, and we're going to focus now on moving to an even higher level of achievement and success."

Anderson has held academic appointments at Ohio State as a professor of psychiatry in the College of Medicine, and as a professor of nursing administration in the College of Nursing.
Prior to joining Ohio State's faculty in 1986, she served as associate dean in the School of Nursing at the University of Rochester, and she was a faculty member and division chair at the University of Colorado's School of Nursing. She received her B.S. in nursing, an M.S. in psychiatric nursing, and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Colorado.

Anderson is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the past editor of the academy's official journal, Nursing Outlook. She was a charter member and two-term chair of the Scientific Review Group of the National Institute of Nursing Research, and she has worked with several national policy-making organizations, including the National Advisory Committee on Nurse Education and Practice. Anderson currently serves on the National Advisory Council of the National Institutes of Health's National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research.

Throughout her distinguished career as a professor and administrator in the health sciences at Ohio State, Anderson has managed the restructuring of multi-million dollar budgets, and she has affected university-wide policies in myriad ways, including her service as the co-chair of the University's Council on Diversity.

Commenting on her appointment as dean of the College of Dentistry, Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee said, "Carole Anderson has been successful in an array of executive-level leadership positions at this University, and she is one of the premier administrators at Ohio State. The college is in very capable hands with her as dean."