Christine Kavanagh has been promoted to associate dean of graduate and postdoctoral academic affairs, effective immediately. Since 2016, she has served as assistant dean of graduate and postdoctoral affairs.
Over the past two years, Kavanagh’s responsibilities have grown to include graduate admissions and graduate academic affairs for residential graduate programs; student affairs and case management for postdoctoral fellows and for graduate students in both residential and online WSE programs; postdoctoral fellow academic affairs; academic program operations supporting (in partnership with the assistant dean for diversity and inclusion) graduate and postdoctoral diversity efforts; and oversight of graduate and postdoctoral fellow professional development initiatives in partnership with the Life Design Lab and Phutures.
Kavanagh is a creative and energetic solutions-oriented leader with a prodigious work ethic and a deep commitment to WSE’s master’s and doctoral students and postdocs. Her dedication to getting to know each one of them and to understanding their individual backgrounds, challenges, and ambitions is one reason that she is such an effective advocate for their needs and is so successful at her job. She has had a significant impact on wide range of issues, and the strategies she has developed have helped ensure a top-notch graduate experience at WSE.
Kavanagh’s accomplishments include leading efforts to create a university-wide family accommodation policy for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows as well as a university-wide academic misconduct and separate grievance policy; launching the Homewood Parental Concerns Working Group for students and postdoctoral fellows who are balancing their academic demands with their roles supporting dependents; establishing an Emergency Fund for WSE; and creating a suite of academic policies for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows—including vacation, sick leave, and appointment renewal policies—for postdocs.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, she has led efforts and created policies to support and ensure graduate students’ and postdoctoral fellows’ academic and research success and overall wellbeing. Many of these policies not only have been instituted at WSE, but also across all nine Johns Hopkins divisions.
Kavanagh came to Johns Hopkins in 2003 in the Office of the Registrar at the Peabody Institute’s preparatory division, and has worked in positions ranging from community relations coordinator in JHU’s Office of Government, Community, and Public Affairs (2009-2011) to assistant director of enrollment, postdoctoral affairs and diversity (KSAS/WSE, 2011-2103) and director of graduate academic affairs (WSE, 2013-2016.)