Kelli Maxwell Named Associate Dean of Student Success
Carnegie Mellon University’s Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences has named Kelli Maxwell its next associate dean of Student Success, effective Aug. 1.
“Finding someone with the wide set of knowledge and skills needed to make student success a success was a big challenge — it’s not just academic advising anymore — but one the search committee totally delivered on. Kelli Maxwell is an experienced academic, a proven administrator with lots of great experience in this space, and a highly talented and congenial person. I am thrilled that we were able to find her.”
In this role, Maxwell will lead the college’s efforts on holistic student advising, academic support and experiential learning. She also will serve as the college’s principal liaison to the university’s efforts in student success and student affairs. Maxwell will be responsible for supervising the director of the college’s Academic Advising Center (AAC) and the director of Experiential Learning.
“I am incredibly excited to have the opportunity to contribute to Dietrich College’s mission to do work that matters,” Maxwell said. “It has been clear to me throughout the interviewing and onboarding process that I am joining a group of people devoted to student success, and I look forward to the work we will do together.”
Maxwell most recently served as associate provost at the Community College of Allegheny County. She led the Division of Academic Affairs and was responsible for curricular matters, including the development, workforce alignment, implementation, outcomes assessment and review process for all programs to ensure quality and consistency with the institutional mission and strategic objectives. She held a prior role as dean of Student Development at CCAC’s South Campus, providing leadership and coordination for a comprehensive student services program, including admissions, financial aid, registration, advisement, counseling, disability services, career services, student life and student support areas.
Before joining CCAC, Maxwell served as the assistant dean of Chatham College for Women at Chatham University. In this role, she oversaw academic student issues and academic advising; developed academic schedules; oversaw general education curriculum development and assessment; and co-chaired university committees on retention, assessment and students of concern.
Prior to entering administration, Maxwell was a faculty member in the Department of Communication at the University at Albany in New York and a visiting assistant professor at Fairfield University in Connecticut.
She earned her doctorate and master’s degrees from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and her bachelor’s degree in political communication from The George Washington University.