Dr. Elaine Leeder, a professor of sociology at Ithaca College, New York, has been selected as the new Dean of the School of Social Sciences at Sonoma State University. Dr. Leeder begins August 1. She replaces Dr. Robert Karlsrud who is retiring after 30 years of service to the university.
Dr. Leeder began at Ithaca in 1977 and later served as chair of her department and as faculty representative to the college's Board of Trustees. Committees of that Board oversee policy, planning and investment of the college's portfolio. Dr. Leeder also served as chair of the Tenure and Promotion Committee, on the executive committee of the Faculty Council, and part of the all-college Planning and Priorities Committee, among others.
Her scholarly work includes three books, most recently "We Are Family: a Global Journey into the Family" which will be published in 2002. She has served as core director for the Semester at Sea Program, and has accepted speaking and research invitations in the Philippines, the Dominican Republic, South Africa and Vietnam. She was in private psychotherapy practice from 1980-1991. Her honors and awards are many including being accepted to the NEH Summer Seminar and being chosen as Visiting Scholar at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Dr. Leeder looks forward to returning to Northern California because of her love of the state where she did some of her graduate work. She earned her B.A. degree (1967) at Northeastern University, her MSW (1969) at Yeshive University in NY, her MPH (1975) at UC Berkeley, and her Ph.D. (1985) at Cornell University.
