By Cheryl Reed, WSU Graduate School
Lisa Gloss has been appointed as dean of the WSU Graduate School effective Jan. 1.
Gloss has been serving as the interim dean since August 2017. Her accomplishments and success as interim dean were integral to the provost’s decision.
Gloss joined the Graduate School as an associate dean in 2014. In that role she provided leadership and guidance in launching the Professional Development Initiative, served as coordinator for the Individual Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program, and oversaw the student services division of the Graduate School.
Gloss earned a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from Michigan State University, a Master of Philosophy in biochemistry from the University of Cambridge, and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. She did postdoctoral studies in biophysics at The Pennsylvania State University before joining the WSU School of Molecular Biosciences faculty in 1998. Her research has been funded by a CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation, as well as grants from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the American Cancer Society and the American Chemical Society.
Gloss has taught in the SMB biochemistry series for senior undergraduate biochemistry majors and graduate students from a broad range of disciplines since 1999. Add that she has continued to lead this course while serving as interim dean. She strives to bring innovative approaches into the classroom, including a flipped-classroom and active, team-based learning approaches. In her research lab, Gloss has mentored five Ph.D. students, one Master of Science student and 15 undergraduate students. She also served on more than 75 graduate committees for students from multiple departments.
One of the charges in her new role as dean of the Graduate School will be to work with Craig Parks from the provost’s office and a representative from the Faculty Senate to evaluate the structure and policies governing graduate education at WSU and identify adaptations that will facilitate the Drive to 25 metric of increasing the number of doctoral degrees.
