Dean Lisa A. Tedesco

Lisa A. Tedesco joined Emory in May 2006 as Vice Provost for Academic Affairs -- Graduate Studies and Dean of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies.  She is a professor in the Rollins School of Public Health, Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education.

Under Dr. Tedesco's leadership, the Graduate School is emphasizing opportunities for interdisciplinary study and professional preparation. Programs include a comprehensive Grant Writing Program preparing graduate students to compete successfully for professional funding and recognition, and New Thinkers/New Leaders, a Laney Graduate School matching fund supporting innovative initiatives in graduate education. Among the most recent projects supported by the Laney Graduate School is "Human Health: Molecules to Mankind," a new program funded by a $2.5 million Burroughs Welcome Fund (BWF) that will offer a new PhD pathway designed to connect population and computational sciences with laboratory-based biological sciences. The goal is to establish training programs that partner researchers in schools of medicine with those in schools of public health, as well as with a diverse range of other partners.

For more than two decades, Dr. Tedesco has served in a number of academic leadership roles.  At the University of Michigan, from 1998 to 2005 she served as vice president and secretary of the university and in 2001 as interim provost. As vice president and secretary, she was the liaison officer for the Board of Regents, responsible for facilitation, coordination and management of policy matters and communications pertaining to the board, the president, and executive officers of the university.  During her term as interim provost, she provided leadership for the university’s response to the September 11, 2001 national tragedy. She worked with the deans of the 18 schools and colleges to advance important academic initiatives and budget developments, including the final report of the President’s Commission on the Undergraduate Experience, continued support for the Life Sciences Initiative, and departmental and curricular improvements in the School of Literature, Science and the Arts.  

Throughout her academic and administrative career, Tedesco has been involved with programs to increase student and faculty diversity on campus, with emphasis on minority youth access to and preparation for careers in the health care professions. From 2003-2004, she served on an Institute of Medicine committee addressing institutional strategies for increasing U.S. health care workforce diversity. In 2005 she was appointed to the Sullivan Alliance to Transform America’s Health Professions. She has provided leadership in activities to promote gender equity in the sciences and engineering.

As a health psychologist, Tedesco is interested in how people think about and act to prevent illness and promote well-being.  Her research has focused on cognitive behavioral enhancement of oral health status, relapse prevention, and stress, coping and oral disease.  Her teaching has been in areas related to behavioral sciences and the health professions, and she has written and worked institutionally on matters related curriculum change; inquiry-based learning and teaching; faculty development; and diversity. She has published widely in these areas and has presented her work at national and international meetings.  

Tedesco was a fellow in the Academic Leadership Program sponsored by the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (big ten universities plus the University of Chicago), and in 1996-97, a fellow in the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program for Women. She is a past president of the American Dental Education Association and was instrumental in redirecting the association’s activities to address national academic issues, professional testing, evaluation, diversity, and accreditation and policy issues.
In October 1995, she was inducted as an honorary member of the American Dental Association, in recognition for her contributions to academic dentistry, and in May 1998 she was the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from the State University of New York at Buffalo, Graduate School of Education. In 2002 she received the University of Michigan Sarah Goddard Power Award for distinguished leadership and sustained service on behalf of women.

During 2005-2006, Tedesco was  a visiting professor at Columbia University, School of Dental and Oral Surgery and a visiting fellow in the Center for Community Health Partnerships.

Dr. Tedesco earned her doctorate in educational psychology from the State University of New York at Buffalo.