Rachelle Germana, PhD
Shelley Germana is starting her 19th year working professionally in higher education, with leadership roles in both student affairs and academic affairs. She is currently the Associate Provost for Academic Success within Undergraduate Education at Stony Brook University. Dr. Germana earned her PhD in Sociology from Rutgers University, where she taught introductory courses on sociological topics, as well as courses involving gender, social identities, and culture and cognition, which are her scholarly areas. Dr. Germana started in higher education many years ago in residence life, with a focus on first-year success and later served as a director of a summer academic program at Stanford University. Dr. Germana also taught in the Gender Studies program at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY) and was involved in multi-disciplinary curriculum development and assessment, before coming to Stony Brook as the Assistant Dean of the Undergraduate Colleges. As Assistant Dean, Dr. Germana was responsible for six first-year academic communities with first-year seminars, customized advising and support, co-curricular programming, and five interdisciplinary minors. In her current role as Associate Provost, she leads a variety of divisional and University efforts around student success, including initiatives to support student transition, retention, and graduation. Dr. Germana co-leads a regional effort on college readiness for the Long Island Advisory Council on Higher Education.