Miami University

Academic Advising
College of Arts & Science

College of Arts & Science at Miami University

Meet the Dean's Staff

View the dean's office organization chart [PDF].

Phyllis Callahan (Dean)

Phyllis Callahan photo Phyllis Callahan ((513) 529-4432; callahp@MiamiOH.edu) earned her Ph.D. in Physiology and Neurobiology from Rutgers University. She was a post-doctoral researcher at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey before joining the Miami faculty in 1988. She is a professor of Zoology and co-directs the Undergraduate Research and Mentoring Program funded by the NSF. Her research area is neurendocrinology, specifically sex differences in the endogenous opiate regulation of the neuroendocrine response to stress. Her research is funded by the National Institutes of Health. She became Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Science in 2006, Senior Associate Dean in 2008, and Interim Dean in January, 2011.

Chris Makaroff (Associate Dean)

Chris Makaroff photo Chris Makaroff ((513) 529-2287; makaroca@MiamiOH.edu) earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Purdue University. He was an NIH postdoctoral fellow in Plant Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Michigan before joining Miami in 1989. He is a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. His research involves multi-disciplinary approaches to understand the relationship of protein structure to biological function. In 2009 he was awarded the Miami University Distinguished Scholar award for his research accomplishments. Before becoming an Associate Dean in August 2012, he was the Chair of the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department for nine years.

Carl Paternite (Associate Dean)

Carl Paternite photo Carl Paternite ((513) 529-1234; paternce@MiamiOH.edu) earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Iowa, including completion of a predoctoral clinical psychology internship at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute. Following two years in the private non-profit sector, he joined the Miami faculty in 1979. He is professor of Psychology, and he directs the Center for School-Based Mental Health Programs. Before becoming Acting Associate Dean in January, 2011, he was Chair of the Department of Psychology. Carl was a co-recipient of the Miami University College of Arts and Science 2003 Distinguished Educator Award.

Keith Tuma (Associate Dean)

Keith Tuma photo Keith Tuma ((513) 529-1234; tumakw@MiamiOH.edu) earned his Ph.D. in English from the University of Chicago. He taught at Reed College for a year before joining the Miami faculty in 1988. He is Professor of English and also directs the Miami University Press and Meshworks, a video archive of writing in performance. Selected recent publications are listed online. He became Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Science in 2008.

Claudia Scott-Pavloff (Assistant Dean, Academic Advising)

Claudia Scott Pavloff ((513) 529-3031; scottpc@MiamiOH.edu) directs the Academic Advising Office in the College of Arts and Science and serves as the primary point person for student academic matters for the college. She coordinates the academic advising programs and often represents Arts and Science across the university. Claudia works with all types of student concerns and is an advocate for such. Claudia began her career at Miami, some 34 years ago, as a first year advisor and then moved to the College of Arts and Science as an academic advisor and now as the Assistant Dean. She did her undergraduate work at Michigan State University and earned a master's of arts at Bowling Green State University.

Kristen Zomchek (Director of Personnel, Planning and Budget)

Kristen Zomchek photo Kris Zomchek ((513) 529-4432; zomcheke@MiamiOH.edu) worked in the Department of Psychology for 9 years before coming over to the CAS office in 2013. She earned her degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Wisconsin - Madison and is a devoted Green Bay Packer shareholder. She is married with two wonderful daughters.

Paula Sizemore (Data Specialist)

Paula Sizemore photo

Paula Sizemore ((513) 529-4535; sizemopf@MiamiOH.edu) is a Miami alumna with a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education degree. She has worked in the CAS office since 1998 as a data specialist.

Nancy Burnside (Program Associate)

Nancy Burnside photo Nancy Burnside ((513) 529-1234; burnsinl@MiamiOH.edu) has been a Program Associate in the College of Arts and Science for ten years and is the first person you will see when you enter the Dean's office. She works with the Associate Deans regarding curriculum, graduate assistants, grade corrections, grant proposals, and various other duties. Nancy graduated from National Trail High School and attended Indiana University East. She is married with two children and one beautiful granddaughter.

Guy Moore (Assistant to the Dean, Director Computing)

((513) 529-1231; mooregr@MiamiOH.edu)

Rick Ingersoll (Web Designer)

Rick Ingersoll photo Rick Ingersoll ((513) 529-1939; ingersrc@MiamiOH.edu) received BScF and MScF degrees from the University of New Brunswick (Canada). Since then he has held positions of research associate, information manager, senior software engineer, technical services manager, computer support specialist, web architect, lecturer, and webmaster. He has been employed by one commercial firm and several universities (Yale, Colorado, Cornell, and Appalachian State) during that time. He joined Miami in July 2007 as web designer for CAS.