Brent Mallinckrodt selected dean at WWU College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Brent Mallinckrodt has been selected as dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS) at Western Washington University, Provost Brent Carbajal announced today.

Mallinckrodt, now associate dean for Graduate Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences and a full professor of Psychology at the University of Tennessee, was selected following a national search and will start at Western on July 1. He succeeds CHSS Dean LeaAnn Martin, who is retiring.

“I look forward to working with Dr. Brent Mallinckrodt in his role as dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.  Dr. Mallinckrodt has broad and varied experience at the University of Tennessee that he is excited to apply here at Western,” Carbajal said.

“Dr. Mallinckrodt’s values align very well with ours here at Western, and his commitment to the liberal arts and to public education promise strong advocacy and leadership for our largest academic college,” Carbajal said. “He’s well positioned to build on the strong leadership provided by Dean LeaAnn Martin.”

Martin, who began at Western in 1991, has been CHSS dean since 2013. She previously served as associate dean of CHSS and as a professor in Western’s Department of Health and Human Development (formerly Physical Education, Health and Recreation).

“I want to take advantage of the opportunity to thank Dean LeaAnn Martin, with whom I have worked in various capacities over the past decade. Her contributions to this campus are innumerable, and we wish her the very best in her retirement even as we lament the fact that we will miss her administrative acumen on campus,” Carbajal said.

Martin said that, “My years at Western have been incredibly rewarding. It has been an honor to serve as a faculty member, associate dean, and dean in this very special place. Western has been my professional home for my entire career in higher education. My colleagues and students are the reason I have stayed 25 years, as well as the reason I will miss coming to campus every day. Even though Joel and I will travel more and spend added time with family, we remain committed to Western and its goals.”

Mallinckrodt received a bachelor’s degree in political science and sociology from the University of Missouri and a doctorate in psychology from the University of Maryland.

"I am tremendously impressed with the quality and dedication of faculty and leadership in CHSS departments, and in the college office.  I am honored and humbled to be selected to join such a great team.  I look forward to working closely with my new colleagues at every level, with my fellow Deans, and with Provost Carbajal,” Mallinckrodt said. “I’ve learned that the number one reason students give for coming to Western is that they ‘want to make a difference.’  That’s a great expression of my hope for joining Western as well.”

At the University of Tennessee, as associate dean for Graduate Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, Mallinckrodt now assists department heads and program directors to help improve graduate student recruitment and achieve other goals of the college’s strategic plan related to graduate research, education, and professional development. He serves more than 900 doctoral and 350 master’s students in 19 graduate departments with more than 50 graduate degree-granting programs in the College of Arts and Sciences.

He has served as director of graduate studies in the counseling psychology programs at the University of Oregon and University of Missouri before joining the UT Department of Psychology in 2007 to serve in the same role.

In 2012, the UT Counseling Psychology program faculty and students received the American Psychological Association (APA) Innovation in Graduate Education Award, recognizing the program’s social justice curriculum and achievement as the first doctoral psychology program accredited with a “Scientist-Practitioner-Advocate” training model.

In 2005, he was named Graduate Faculty Mentor of the Year at the University of Missouri. In 2013, he was co-recipient of the UT Chancellor’s Honors award for excellence in graduate advising. He is a recipient of APA divisional awards for integrating science and practice, for mentoring international graduate students, and the 2011 Evelyn Hooker award for distinguished contributions to de-stigmatizing people with minority sexual orientations.

Mallinckrodt is a former editor of the “Journal of Counseling Psychology and has been a co-principal investigator (PI) on two National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) grants for social support in cancer survivors and a co-PI of a federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) grant for suicide prevention on the UT campus. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The College of Humanities and Social Services (CHSS), the university’s largest college,  includes the 13 departments of : Anthropology; Communication Sciences and Disorders; Health and Human Development; Political Science; Psychology; Sociology; Communication; English; History; Journalism; Liberal Studies; Modern and Classical Languages, and Philosophy as well as three interdisciplinary programs: East Asian Studies, Linguistics, and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies.