The Graduate School is proud to announce Elizabeth (Liz) Gershoff, the Amy Johnson McLaughlin Centennial Professor in the Department of Human Development Family Sciences, will serve as the new associate dean with a focus on funding and policy.
Gershoff will provide strategic leadership to maximize the positive impact of Graduate School fellowships and awards and partner with stakeholders to assess graduate education policies and processes.
“I am delighted to join the amazing team at the Graduate School,” Gershoff said. “I will draw on my 16 years of working in graduate education at UT Austin to ensure that our graduate students gain the knowledge, skills and experiences to launch them into successful and fulfilling careers.”
Gershoff is passionate about graduate education at The University of Texas at Austin, having earned both master’s and doctoral degrees from the University. After holding a research position at Columbia University and a tenured faculty position at the University of Michigan, Gershoff returned to UT Austin as a faculty member in 2009.
At UT Austin, she was elected to two terms in and served as chair of the Graduate Assembly, chaired the Responsibilities, Rights and Welfare of the Graduate Student Academic Employees Committee, and was a member of the Graduate Mentoring Committee in the Graduate School.
Within her home department, Gershoff served as graduate adviser for seven years and received the Outstanding Graduate Adviser Award from the Graduate School in 2014. She also served as postdoctoral training director and principal investigator of an NIH training grant at the Population Research Center (PRC) in the College of Liberal Arts. Gershoff recently completed a five-year term as director of the PRC.
“We’re excited to welcome Liz to the Graduate School’s leadership team,” said Sarah Ades, dean of the Graduate School and senior vice provost for academic and postdoctoral affairs. “She brings a rich experience with nearly every aspect of graduate education at UT Austin to the Graduate School that will enhance our work."