Ellen Moll has been appointed Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Studies for the College of Arts & Letters, effective on January 1, 2024.

This position is part of the Dean’s leadership team and works collaboratively to advance excellence in undergraduate education and to further undergraduate student success within the College of Arts & Letters and Michigan State University.

“I’m excited to collaborate with the amazing colleagues who make the College of Arts & Letters undergraduate experience what it is, from our phenomenal advisors and the entire Undergraduate Studies team to countless faculty and staff colleagues from across the College,” Moll said. “I get to work with people who care deeply about our students and bring incredible dedication, innovation, and brilliance to our College.”

Moll has served as Interim Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Studies since May 2023. Prior to that, she was Director of the Center of Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities (CISAH/IAH) starting in 2021, Assistant Director of CISAH starting in 2019, and previously worked as a Curriculum Development and Teaching Specialist in CISAH since 2014.

In her Director role with CISAH, Moll oversaw the strategic planning and administration of the center, which provides IAH courses for 15,000+ undergraduate students a year in collaboration with 100+ educators from 12 academic units at MSU. She also oversaw curriculum development, assessment, student affairs, teaching and learning, student success, and budget planning and execution.

“During my time with CISAH, I’ve tried to lead the Center in ways that made faculty, staff, and students feel valued and supported,” Moll said. “One of my favorite parts of my experience in IAH is that I had many opportunities to collaborate across the College of Arts & Letters and across arts and humanities disciplines at MSU.”

Moll’s teaching and research interests have included curriculum and pedagogy, feminist technoscience, theories of interdisciplinarity, contemporary drama, and digital humanities. Her ongoing interests also include JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion), student affairs, and educator development.

In 2018, Moll was part of the MSU Lilly Fellow program, which provides a year-long exploration of the robust scholarship on effective practices in teaching. Her project studied the effects of community-engaged learning and socially engaged pedagogy and curriculum in her IAH course, “Gender, Race, Technology, and Science.”

The Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Studies works closely in an advising capacity with the Dean, as well as the other Assistant and Associate Deans in strategic planning, student affairs, and select areas of academic affairs. This position has oversight of undergraduate student affairs, including managing diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and well-being initiatives around student affairs and teaching and learning.

The position supports academic affairs by contributing to teaching and learning assessment and faculty development in support of the Compelling Curriculum initiative and Academic Program Review overseen by the Associate Dean of Administration and Undergraduate Studies.

“I look forward to continuing to build connections with people in all parts of the College. I’m excited to keep learning more about the amazing work being done across the College of Arts & Letters.”

Ellen Moll

“In this position, I look forward to continuing to build connections with people in all parts of the College,” Moll said. “I’m excited to keep learning more about the amazing work being done across the College of Arts & Letters.”

Prior to coming to MSU, Moll was a Lecturer and Teaching Assistant at the University of Maryland, College Park from fall 2004 through spring 2014 where she taught comparative literature/English and women’s studies courses.

“I am pleased to appoint Ellen Moll as Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Studies, a position she has held in an interim capacity since May,” said Christopher P. Long, Dean of the College of Arts & Letters. “Her leadership while at MSU and with the IAH program has already had profound positive impacts on student learning and success. Her expertise in integrating diversity, equity, and belonging into programs and curricula will help us in the College of Arts & Letters advance our commitments to inclusive excellence in undergraduate education.”

Moll has both a Ph.D. and M.A. in Comparative Literature from the University of Maryland. She received a B.A. in English and a B.S. in Mathematics, both from Michigan State University.

Written by Beth Bonsall