Stenport selected as next Franklin College dean

Anna Westerstahl Stenport, dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), has been named the next dean of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Georgia following a national search.

Stenport is a professor of communication and an expert in transnational cinema and media, modern literature and drama, and visual and cultural studies, with a focus on the Arctic and Nordic regions. She will join the UGA faculty as the University of Georgia Athletic Association Professor in Communication Studies in the department of communication studies on April 1, pending approval by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents. Stenport will assume the role of dean of Franklin College on June 1.

Her appointment as dean of UGA’s Franklin College represents a homecoming of sorts. With a scholarship from the Georgia Rotary Student Program, Stenport, a native of Sweden, spent her first year of college as an international student at UGA.

“The University of Georgia is excited to welcome Dr. Stenport back to our campus as the next dean of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences,” said President Jere W. Morehead. “Her success as an academic leader and multidisciplinary scholar and her commitment to student success, innovative teaching and groundbreaking research make her an ideal candidate to lead UGA’s oldest and largest college.”

As dean of the College of Liberal Arts at RIT, Stenport leads 13 departments and 25 degree programs in the cognitive and social sciences, humanities and performing arts. She also leads the college’s research and external funding initiatives, public service partnerships and diversity and inclusion initiatives while overseeing strategic planning, academic program development and day-to-day operations.

“I am very impressed by Franklin College’s focus on holistic and experiential learning, its generation of purposeful new knowledge with real world applications, and its ambitious commitment to diverse perspectives and global reach,” said Stenport. “I look forward to advancing Franklin’s trajectory of exceptional excellence and the success of students, faculty, staff and alumni through partnership and collaboration.”

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Image: Anna Westerstahl Stenport