Three new associate deans appointed at The Graduate College
October 17, 2023 | The Graduate College
The Graduate College is pleased to announce the appointment of three new associate deans: Dr. Donna Vandiver, Dr. Clay Green, and Dr. Patti Giuffre.
Dr. Donna Vandiver
Dr. Donna Vandiver has been appointed as Associate Dean for Enrollment and Online and will begin working in her new position on October 19, 2023. She will work collaboratively with stakeholders across campus to increase enrollment at the graduate level, by providing oversight of recruitment activities of domestic and international students of all backgrounds on both the San Marcos and Round Rock campuses and online. She will also provide leadership on efforts to expand onboarding activities for student populations, while also holding workshops for faculty on topics of recruitment and admission.
Dr. Vandiver earned a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Sam Houston State University. She also earned a Master of Science in Criminal Justice and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Dr. Vandiver has 22 years of experience in higher education. Since joining Texas State University in 2009, she has served as the Master’s and Doctoral Program Coordinator in the School of Criminal Justice and Criminology. At the College of Applied Arts, she served as the Assistant and Associate Dean. Additionally, she served as the Interim Chair of the Department of Agricultural Sciences. At the university level, she has served on numerous committees including the Graduate Council and the undergraduate and graduate student scholarship committees.
Dr. Vandiver’s research interests, publications, and international/national conference presentations have focused on reducing recidivism among violent offenders, mitigating the effects of childhood abuse, and assessing complex causes of crime at both the individual and community levels, including examining correlations between the presence/lack of nature-rich elements (e.g., trees, tree canopies, parks, etc.) and crime patterns. With regard to the community, she was appointed by the Texas governor to a task force charged with addressing laws affecting juveniles who had committed violent crimes. She has also served as an expert witness on death penalty cases regarding the effects of childhood abuse.
Dr. Vandiver also has a distinguished teaching and mentoring record, having directed or served on numerous dissertation, thesis, master’s project, and professional paper committees. In addition, she has engaged students in research projects which have regularly led to conference presentations and peer-reviewed publications for students. She has also led and co-led several study-abroad trips to Cuba, Russia, and Brazil.
Dr. Clay Green
Dr. Clay Green has been appointed as the Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives and Research and will begin working in his new position on October 9, 2023. The position works collaboratively with stakeholders across campus on specific strategic initiatives related to priority areas identified in Hopes & Aspirations High, President Damphousse’s vision for Texas State. This will involve taking the lead on bringing the newly approved doctoral programs on board, helping in the creation of additional degree programs, and identifying and addressing needs in order to improve student success in research-based degree programs, particularly in STEM Ph.D. programs. With regard to enrollment, Dr. Green will work closely with the dean of The Graduate College to review master’s and doctoral programs with declining or low enrollments and design action plans with faculty, chairs, and deans to reverse the observed trends. He will also engage in research activities on graduate education and explore external funding for said research.
Dr. Green earned his Ph.D. in Environmental and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, a Master of Science in Range and Wildlife Management from Sul Ross State University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Soviet and East European Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. After having served as a Visiting Scientist with the U.S.G.S National Wetlands Research Center, he joined Texas State University in the Department of Biology in 2005, was tenured and promoted to associate professor in 2011, and was promoted to professor in 2016.
In addition, Dr. Green has served as director for the Ph.D. in Aquatic Resources and Integrative Biology program since 2013 and as chair of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee since 2015. He also is the past president of the Waterbird Society and currently serves as Chair, of the Heron Specialist Group for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission. In 2022, he retired as Captain of, the U.S. Navy, after 30 years of service in the armed forces.
Dr. Green’s research focuses on the ecology and conservation of birds with an emphasis on threatened and endangered waterbirds including North America’s rarest heron, the Reddish Egret, and the world’s rarest heron, the White-bellied Heron. He has a distinguished record of grant-funded research. He also has more than 60 referenced publications to his name, many of which have been co-published with students, as well as many technical reports and conservation action plans. He has served as a research advisor for 31 doctoral and master’s students and served as a member of an additional 68 thesis and dissertation committees. His students are productive scholars in their own right, publishing their dissertations and thesis research in peer-reviewed journals.
Dr. Patti Giuffre
Dr. Giuffre became the Assistant Dean of The Graduate College in 2021 and was recently promoted to become the Associate Dean. Her portfolio focuses on graduate student retention, particularly the professional development of current graduate students. Along with her excellent staff, she organizes Shop Talks, Texas State 3MT®, the Graduate Student Research Conference, Graduate Student Appreciation Week, and events for international students (e.g., External Funding for International Graduate Students, held during International Education Week) among other activities and events.
In addition to other Graduate College initiatives and processes, she has organized or co-organized Faculty Development workshops for graduate faculty (e.g., “Bobcats from All Over the World: Supporting International Graduate Students,” “Helping Your Graduate Students Dealing with Procrastination, Perfectionism, and Mental Health Issues,” and, “Successfully Supervising Graduate Students’ Theses and Dissertations”). Lastly, Dr. Giuffre has organized workshops for graduate advisors including “Graduate Advising 101” as she believes that “supporting the supporters” of graduate students will help with recruitment and retention.
In 1996, Dr. Giuffre received her Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Texas-Austin. Her first tenure-track position was at Grand Valley State University. After two beautiful fall seasons and two very long winters where she learned about “lake effect snow,” she began teaching at Texas State in 1998. Before she became the Assistant Dean, Dr. Giuffre served as the Director of Graduate Programs in the Department of Sociology for eight years. She advised graduate students in the M.A. in Sociology, M.S. in Applied Sociology, Interdisciplinary M.A./M.S. in Sustainability Studies, and online M.S. in Dementia and Aging Studies programs. She has served as committee chair or member for over 86 student committees (theses, comprehensive exams, practica, and professional projects).
Dr. Giuffre’s research and teaching interests focus on inequality, work, and gender. She has conducted research on topics such as gender inequality at work, sexual harassment, and sexual orientation discrimination. With Dr. Deborah Harris, she has collaborated on several articles, conference papers, and a book about gender inequality in the culinary industry: Taking the Heat: Women Chefs and Gender Inequality in the Professional Kitchen (with Rutgers University Press). Most recently, Dr. Giuffre and her colleague at Middle Tennessee State University, Dr. Gretchen Webber, have presented papers and published articles about two topics: (1) revealing and dispelling negative stereotypes about women's work relationships with other women, and (2) exploring gendered messages and stereotypes in popular press "career advice" books for women. Dr. Giuffre has received several teaching, research, mentoring, and service honors in her academic career, including the Texas State Mariel Muir Mentoring Award, Center for Diversity and Gender Studies Outstanding Faculty Scholar Award (co-recipient with Dr. Deborah Harris), and College of Liberal Arts Golden Apple Award for Service.
Looking Ahead
The Graduate College is looking forward to seeing what the new associate deans will accomplish during their time in these positions. Please join The Graduate College in congratulating Dr. Donna Vandiver, Dr. Clay Green, and Dr. Patti Giuffre on their new roles as associate deans in The Graduate College.