A longtime MTSU sociology professor and campus leader will step in to help serve graduate students beginning Aug. 1, university officials have announced.

Dr. Jackie Eller

Dr. Jackie Eller, chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and a professor at MTSU for 29 years, will serve as interim associate dean for the College of Graduate Studies.

Dr. Michael Allen, vice provost for research and dean of the college, announced the change, thanking Eller “for agreeing to serve in this very important role.”

In addition to her teaching duties, Eller directed graduate studies for her department for five years and has served as the department chair since 2008.

Her course topics have included deviant behavior, social disorganization, sex and gender, and emotions, and she is a former director of women’s studies at MTSU.

Eller, a past president of the Mid-South Sociological Association and member of the MTSU President’s Administrative Council, is replacing Dr. Amy Sayward, former chair of MTSU’s Department of History, in the interim graduate studies position.

Sayward, and now Eller, filled the interim post after former associate dean Dr. Peter Cunningham stepped over into the Office of the University Provost to serve as an academic affairs administrative fellow and special assistant to Dr. Brad Bartel.

For more information about the MTSU College of Graduate Studies, call 615-898-2840, email graduate@mtsu.edu or visit www.mtsu.edu/graduate.