Karen M. Gil, the Lee G. Pedersen Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Professor of Psychiatry, is the new Dean of UNC's College of Arts and Sciences, effective July 1.
A UNC College faculty member since 1995, Gil previously served as the senior associate dean for social sciences and international programs, the senior associate dean for undergraduate education, and chair of the department of psychology.
As Dean she oversees the largest academic unit on the University campus, encompassing more than 700 faculty in 70 departments, curricula, programs and centers. College faculty teach nearly 90% of the undergraduate credit hours at the University. The College has more than 15,000 undergraduate students and about 2,200 graduate students, the largest single group of graduate students at Carolina.
A fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Society of Behavioral Medicine, Gil is the author of numerous publications on health psychology, acute and chronic pain, stress and coping, and childhood medical illness.
She received a doctorate in clinical psychology from West Virginia University in 1985 and a bachelor of arts degree in psychology with highest honors from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1978. Before coming to UNC, she was a faculty member at Duke University for a decade.
