Cheryl Bailey Appointed Dean of School of Natural and Health Sciences

Professional from Howard Hughes Medical Center to Lead New School

MILWAUKEE, WI (July 28, 2014) - Mount Mary University President Eileen Schwalbach, Ph.D., announced today that Cheryl Bailey has been appointed dean of the school of natural and health sciences. Bailey, a proponent of innovative and active learning, will oversee Mount Mary's natural and health sciences programs including biology, chemistry, mathematics, and undergraduate and graduate occupational therapy and dietetics. She will also continue her role as a principal investigator for a National Science Foundation funded project with the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology working with biochemistry educators to assess and teach foundational concepts.

Bailey most recently served as a senior program officer at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Maryland, leading a national program that involves first-year biology students in research. Prior to that, she was an associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Bailey also spent two years in Wisconsin as a senior scientist for Promega Corporation.

"Cheryl has professional and academic experience that will be instrumental in supporting our position as an institution that offers relevant science-based curriculum," said Karen Friedlen, Ph.D., vice president of academic and student affairs. "Her highly regarded work with the National Science Foundation and approach to integrating research into the classroom will advance all of our natural and health sciences programs."

At Mount Mary, Bailey will play an integral role in furthering the institution's sciences curriculum development and research initiatives for both faculty and students.

"I'm excited to be working with the Mount Mary community where creative teaching and research are preparing the next generation of professionals," Bailey stated. "I look forward to working with faculty as they nurture students' innovative solutions to real world situations," she added.

Bailey is a recipient of numerous awards for her innovation in teaching and, in 2010, she was a National Academies of Science Teaching Fellow in the Life Sciences. She's been involved in numerous professional activities including: editorial board for the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education Journal, evaluator for projects funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Great Lakes Regional Coordinator for the Process-Oriented Guided-Inquiry Learning Project. She was also on the advisory board for a new Forensic Science Program at University of Nebraska, Lincoln and the national Microbial Genome Annotation Network.

Bailey holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa and a Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry from the same institution. She is a member of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Bailey joins other deans who are now at Mount Mary as part of a reconfigured university academic model: Kathleen Dougherty, Ph.D., dean of the school of humanities; and Barbara Armstrong, dean of the school of arts and design and the school of business.

Read more about Cheryl Bailey in The Business Journal