Dean of Scranton’s College of Arts and Sciences Named

University of Scranton President Rev. Joseph G. Marina, S.J., announced the appointment of Carolyn McNamara Barry, Ph.D., as dean of its College of Arts and Sciences, effective July 15, 2024.

Since 2019, Dr. Barry has served as associate dean for Social Sciences and Graduate Programs at Loyola College of Arts and Sciences, Loyola University Maryland, where she also served as a professor, program director and chair of Loyola’s Department of Psychology. She joined the faculty at Loyola in 2001.

“Dr. Barry’s faculty and administrative leadership experience at a sister Jesuit university, in addition to her extensive academic research related to the psychosocial adjustment of emerging adults, and her work and training in DEI make her exceptionally qualified to work with our students and faculty,” said Father Marina in an announcement sent to the University community. “Dr. Barry embodies a deep understanding and appreciation of Catholic and Jesuit higher education.”

At Scranton, Dr. Barry will oversee the University’s 16 academic departments in the sciences and mathematics, engineering and computing sciences, humanities, theology and social sciences that make up its oldest and largest college. She will also oversee the University’s Special Jesuit Liberal Arts Honors Program, the Magis Honors Program in STEM and the Undergraduate Honors Program, as well as its pre-med and pre-law programs, in addition to other programs, centers and initiatives of the College of Arts and Sciences.

As associate dean for Social Sciences and Graduate Programs at Loyola University Maryland, Dr. Barry assisted with the visioning and strategic planning development for their division, departments and programs. She was responsible for supporting new initiatives and curricular management, which include faculty and staff hiring, development and evaluation, as well as program reviews and student learning program assessment, among other duties.

During her tenure as associate dean, Dr. Barry oversaw curricular revisions in Loyola’s undergraduate programs in sociology and psychology and in graduate programs in theological studies, emerging media, clinical professional counseling and clinical psychology. She also oversaw graduate enrollment as the master’s programs in forensic pattern analysis and biological forensics recently launched. In addition, she led ongoing efforts to strengthen internship experiences and research opportunities for undergraduate students. Among her efforts to grow the Pre-Law Program was the creation of an ongoing partnership with Maryland Legal Aid, for which Loyola received the Community Partner for Justice Award from Maryland Legal Aid’s Equal Justice Council.

In her role as chair of Loyola’s Department of Psychology, Dr. Barry led the Teaching Evaluation Task Force through an equity and inclusion lens that resulted in the creation of supplementary items for course evaluation to assess diversity content and support for inclusive classrooms, among other enhancements. She also created and launched a Diversity and Inclusion Committee to ensure ongoing improvement of departmental climate. In 2022, she earned a Diversity and Inclusion Certificate from Cornell University.

During her tenure at Loyola, she has served on numerous committees, including the Strategic Planning Committee, the Council of Academic Directors, the Graduate Enrollment Committee, the Graduate Curriculum Committee, and as chair, the Ignatian Senior Seminar Subcommittee and Diversity Subcommittee for the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, among many others. She also served on the Executive Committee of Governance and as chair of the Faculty Affairs Committee and chair of the Academic Senate.

A prolific academic researcher, Dr. Barry has published more than 50 articles in academic journals, in addition to making more than 80 professional presentations regarding her research related to the social and self-development of emerging adults. In 2016, in an article published in Emerging Adulthood, she was noted as the “fifth most-published scholar in emerging adulthood” in a review of empirical studies on this age group. In addition, she has contributed to chapters and books on “religiousness in adolescence and emerging adulthood” in multiple editions of the Encyclopedia on Adolescence and “the role of religiousness and spirituality in emerging adults’ lives” in The Oxford Handbook on Emerging Adulthood.

Dr. Barry is an editorial board member for Adolescent Research Review, Emerging Adulthood and the Journal of Youth and Adolescence and has served as an invited reviewer for more than a dozen academic journals. She is a member and president-elect for Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood and is a member of the Society for Research on Adolescence and the Council for Undergraduate Research.

During her career, Dr. Barry has received the Ursinus College Alumni Professional Achievement Award in 2023, the Strong Truths Well Lived Award Recipient from Loyola University Maryland in 2017 (in recognition for living out the Jesuit mission) and The Faculty Award for Excellence in Service-Learning and Engaged Scholarship from Loyola University Maryland in 2011, among other awards.

Dr. Barry earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Ursinus College and her Ph.D. in human development with a specialization in educational psychology from The University of Maryland, College Park.