Graduate School Dean Named

Posted on Aug. 30, 2022

Beth Mayer-Davis, the Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor of nutrition and medicine, was named dean of The Graduate School, effective Sept. 1.

For the past eight years, Mayer-Davis, who is also director of the UNC Nutrition Obesity Research Center, led the nutrition department in UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health. She prioritized faculty success and worked to create an environment in which faculty could thrive. She also instituted a mentoring program, formed a committee to nominate faculty for academic awards and aligned her colleagues’ professional development interests to their committee service.

Mayer-Davis was principal investigator for the Carolina clinical site of the landmark SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth study and served for more than 15 years as its co-chair. She has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed publications, secured more than $45 million in active research funding, supervised dozens of graduate students and is co-director of the NIH-funded nutrition training grant for doctoral students.

Mayer-Davis replaces former dean Suzanne Barbour, who left in August to accept the positions of dean of The Graduate School and vice provost for graduate education at Duke University. Under Barbour’s leadership at UNC, The Graduate School advanced its diversity and inclusion efforts, implemented a pilot program not to require the GRE for incoming students and exceeded its $10 million Campaign for Carolina goal by 25 percent.