ICYMI: Union County College Hires New Deans

Union County College announced it has hired three new deans, including appointments to two newly created positions.

Dr. Elise Donovan accepted an appointment to the newly created administrative position of Dean of Humanities and Dr. Liesl Jones was named dean of the newly created STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) Division, according to Union County College. Dr. Lester Sandres Rapalo was named Dean of Social Sciences/Business.

The appointments were made during a May 19 UCC Board of Trustees meeting.

Union County College recently transferred the management of academic departments to four academic deans, including STEM, Allied Health/Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences/Business. Previously, the academic departments were managed by eight faculty department chairs and two directors, the college said

Donovan assumes her role as Dean of Humanities after a 23-year career at UCC, serving in a number of roles including professor and department chair of English, the college said.

Jones accepted the position at Union County College after working at Lehman College of the City University of New York system since 1998, according to UCC. In addition to her role as professor at Lehman, Jones also served as the department chair for the Biological Sciences Department and chair of the Neuroscience Doctoral Subprogram, the college said.

Rapalo is currently a teacher for middle and high school students at the Calhoun School in New York City. Additionally, he has worked at Valencia College, in Orlando, Florida, as interim dean of the Humanities and Foreign Language Department and as chair of the Foreign Language Department, according to UCC.

All of the three deans will begin on July 1 and will report to the College’s Chief Academic Officer.