Annice D. Yarber-Allen, Ph.D. has been named Dean of the Columbus State University College of Letters and Sciences following a national search. Yarber-Allen has been serving as the Interim Dean of the College since June 2019. She brings more than three decades of higher education and professional administration experience to this academic leadership role.
 
“I am honored to be named the dean of the College of Letters and Sciences at Columbus State University,” said Dr. Yarber-Allen. “Serving CSU in a leadership role that draws on all my skills and experience is deeply fulfilling and a tremendous honor. The College is not only the intellectual foundation of the CSU community, but also the most academically diverse.  I look forward to collaborating with my colleagues in the humanities, social and behavioral sciences, and the natural sciences as well as with the Columbus community in designing and developing innovative, creative, and educationally enriching experiences for our students. Likewise, I am excited to work with our community of deans and senior campus leadership in creating an environment that prepares our students to serve the world as creative problem-solvers and high impact leaders.”
 
“I am very pleased to welcome Dr. Yarber-Allen to her new role as Dean of the College of Letters and Sciences,” said CSU Provost Dr. Deborah Bordelon. “She has been an incredible asset to CSU, and we look forward to seeing what great accomplishments the College of Letters and Sciences achieves under her leadership.”
 
Yarber-Allen joined Columbus State University in 2018 as Professor and Chair of the Department of Criminal Justice and Sociology. Prior to her arrival at CSU, Yarber-Allen was the Chair of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Geography at Auburn University at Montgomery (AUM) in Alabama.
 
Yarber-Allen has excelled in teaching and research. In recognition of her accomplishments in teaching, she was named Distinguished Teaching Professor, 2012 – 2015 at AUM.  In 2014, she was nominated for the U.S. Professor of the Year Award, sponsored by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.  Additionally, Yarber-Allen was a 2014 recipient of the Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Award to implement the Summer Institute on the Welfare of Women of Belize project. She secured grant funding from agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the Department of Education, National Association for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors, and Minority Access, Inc.
 
Prior to her career in higher education, she served in leadership roles in several areas of social work, including HIV prevention, substance abuse treatment, health care for the homeless, and alcohol and drug education and prevention.
 
Yarber-Allen received her Bachelor of Science degree in Social Work at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1981 and her Master of Social Work degree in Program Planning and Administration, summa cum laude, at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa in 1999. She returned to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she earned her Ph.D. degree in Medical Sociology in 2004.