The University of Mississippi recently hired Annette Kluck as the new dean of the Graduate School, which currently has over 2,100 students enrolled across master’s and doctoral programs, and she has plans to foster relationships between departments on campus.
“The graduate school is a place where we can combine resources to figure out how (can) we deepen and expand the ways we support students,” she said. “As a psychologist, we think a lot about relationships, and relationships matter. And that’s certainly an area of my leadership style — I think the relationships matter almost more than anything.”
Kluck, who received her Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Texas Tech University in 2006 and held a faculty position at Auburn University for the past 13 years, is a member of the American Psychological Association and the Academy for Eating Disorders.
“One of the things that excites me is that it’s an excellent institution, producing great research, great scholars and a strong commitment to teaching,” she said. “I am in a position where, as dean of the Graduate School, all of the students and none of the students belong to me. It can’t be done without excellent faculty, and it really matters to me that the faculty here do have that commitment to the students.”
She has also held positions as the assistant provost for Women’s Initiatives and doctoral program training director for the counseling psychology program at Auburn University. These positions, she said, gave her the opportunity to develop her leadership skills and a commitment to diversity.
“One of my questions when I took this job was, ‘How do we recruit students from around the country to come here to the University of Mississippi?’” Kluck said. “How do we support the advancement of women, faculty, staff, students, diversity and gender equity?”
Kluck believes that increasing diversity in graduate enrollment depends on the university supporting and increasing currently offered programs.
“Many programs, such as the M.A. program in music, are really excellent,” Kluck said. “I come from an institution where there wasn’t that same opportunity. It was far more limited.”
Kluck said she recognizes that she will need to work closely with other members of the university administration to achieve the program expansion she hopes to.
“I look forward to working with Dr. Kluck to increase graduate enrollment and to expand the programs that offer graduate education to those in our state, region and nation,” Provost Noel Wilkin said in a statement to University Communications.
Kluck also said that, by continuing to offer new degrees and research opportunities across various fields, the university will be able to attract a more diverse group of students from across the country.
“There is research coming from all areas of campus,” she said. “The University of Mississippi, percentage-wise, actually, has a very high amount of the research expenditures that go to humanities.”
Kluck has more than 16 years of teaching experience at Auburn and Texas Tech University, and she has been recognized for her work, earning the College of Education 2016 Leischuck Graduate Teaching Award and the Women’s Studies 2016 Faculty Achievement Award from Auburn University.
