Interim Dean Named at School of Public Health

Posted on March 8, 2004

Margaret Dardess has been appointed interim dean of UNC’s School of Public Health, effective March 15.

Dardess joined the school in January 2002 as associate dean for administration, following 15 years at GlaxoSmithKline. She later was named senior associate dean of the school and also is an adjunct professor of health policy and administration at the school.

At GlaxoSmithKline, Dardess worked in the legal department before becoming senior vice president of corporate affairs in 1996 and a member of Glaxo Wellcome’s board of directors.

Bill Roper, dean of the school since July 1997, leaves that position March 15 to become the chief executive officer of the UNC Health Care System, vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine. Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Robert Shelton is in the process of appointing a search committee to select Roper’s replacement.

Dardess is to serve as interim dean through mid-March 2005 or until a new dean is in place.

Dardess is chair of the N.C. Board of Science and Technology and a member of the N.C. Economic Development Board. She is a visiting professor at the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University, serves as president of the GlaxoSmithKline Foundation and is treasurer and a member of the board of directors of the Center for Child and Family Health.

She holds a bachelor’s degree from Connecticut College, master of arts and doctoral degrees in Japanese history from Columbia University, and a doctor of jurisprudence from the University of Kansas School of Law.

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