Bonnie Thornton Dill
“I am pleased to have an opportunity to bring new perspectives and experiences to the leadership of the College of Arts and Humanities and am grateful to the many people who have contributed to my journey. Their guidance, support, encouragement, and confidence in my ability to handle the challenges and hyper-visibilty that comes with being a ‘first’ have been gratifying. One of my goals is to help develop more leaders who will bring even greater diversity to the University of Maryland and to higher education across the United States.”
Professor & Dean
College of Arts & Humanities
In 2011, Bonnie Thornton Dill was appointed Dean of the University of Maryland’s 550-plus-faculty, 3,500-student, 14-department College of Arts and Humanities. The first African-American woman ever to hold the Dean’s title in the college, Dean Thornton Dill has worked to increase support for and the visibility of arts and humanities research and scholarship; provide leadership for interdisciplinary initiatives within the college and across the campus; support student engagement with underserved communities; and increase the number of UMD’s national scholarship award recipients. A pioneering scholar on the intersections of race, class, and gender in the U.S. with an emphasis on African-American women, work, and families, she is founding director of both the Center for Research on Women at the University of Memphis and the Consortium on Race, Gender, and Ethnicity at UMD.