Two New Deans Begin Tenure

Dr. Croyle

On July 1, the college community welcomed Dr. Kristin L. Croyle as the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Dr. Prabakar Kothandaraman as dean of the School of Business.

Croyle takes the helm from Associate Dean Patricia Clark who stepped into the interim dean role when Dr. Adrienne McCormick resigned in July 2018.

Croyle most recently served as professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley—a doctoral institution with an enrollment of approximately 28,500 students. She was also vice president for student success, overseeing such areas as retention and graduation initiatives, academic advising and student academic supports, experiential learning initiatives, general education curriculum and student life operations.

Croyle was instrumental in shaping the structure, initiatives and staffing at the newly formed, multi-campus University of Texas Rio Grande Valley to build undergraduate student success on all campuses. She also served on the core leadership team that proposed the academic structure of the new institution, academic policies and the undergraduate curriculum for 64 bachelor’s programs.

Croyle’s prior positions include vice provost for undergraduate education, and dean of the University College at the University of Texas-Pan American; interim dean and assistant dean for the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Texas-Pan American.

She earned a Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Arts in clinical psychology from the University of Montana. She earned a Bachelor of Science in psychology from the University of Utah. She also completed a clinical neuropsychology postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine.

Dr. Kothandaraman

Dr. Kothandaraman succeeds outgoing dean of 12 years Dr. Richard Skolnik, who stepped down as dean to return to the classroom as a full-time faculty member.

Dr. Kothandaraman most recently served as professor in the Department of Professional Sales in the Cotsakos College of Business at William Paterson University (New Jersey). He also served as chair of the Department of Professional Sales since 2014, and executive director of the Russ Berrie Institute for Professional Sales since 2010.

Some of his key accomplishments include preparing and executing a “Go to Market” strategy for rolling out the first-ever master’s degree in sales leadership for executives at William Paterson University; assembling an advisory board and graduate program advisory board at Russ Berrie Institute; securing funds from corporate sponsorships and external training revenue; and increasing corporate engagement.

Dr. Kothandaraman was a faculty member at Drexel University, Texas A&M University and Xavier Institute of Management in Bhubaneswar, India. He also served as interim executive director and senior researcher at Harvard Business School’s India Research Center.

He earned a doctorate in business administration from Smeal College of Business at Pennsylvania State University, an MBA from the Xavier Institute of Management and a B.E with honors in chemical engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in India.

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