Joann McDaniel, Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Programs, Retires
For over 15 years, Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Programs Joann McDaniel has dedicated herself to ensuring that Stamps students have had the resources and support they need to make the most of their U-M experience and prepare for their post-college lives.
Starting as the Director of Undergraduate Academic Services in 2004 with a promotion to Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Programs in 2008, McDaniel joined the Stamps team after serving for four years as an advisor in the Newnan Academic Advising Center, part of the U-M College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.
Before her time at U-M, McDaniel enjoyed a robust and varied career path that contributed to the depth, richness, and integrity of her work at the Stamps School. With an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Classical Archaeology from University of North Carolina, McDaniel served as an assistant professor at Duke University, teaching Latin literature and Roman archaeology abroad, and an archaeologist with fieldwork experience in Italy, Jordan, Egypt, and Tunisia. She also served as the map editor for the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, a research assistant in biostatistics, a sorority housemother, a financial aid advisor, a high school Latin teacher, and held summer jobs as a gas pump jockey and a lineworker at Dolly Madison.
At Stamps, McDaniel was driven by the needs of creative students for interpersonal connection and their need for close guidance through the school’s open curriculum. Under McDaniel’s leadership and vision, the student services infrastructure at Stamps has become timely, responsive, and able to flex as curricula and student needs evolve.
In addition to leading the undergraduate student services team — overseeing advising, student life, registrar functions, and a host of other critical operations that support our undergrad students’ success — McDaniel was an advisor to Stamps students directly and played a critical role in their connection to the curriculum.
“Joann’s positive and important impact on student life will reverberate for many years to come through the students and through our programs at Stamps,” said Brad Smith, Associate Dean for Academic Programs.
Romy Hill-Cronin, Director of Undergraduate Academic Advising, concurs, adding: “Joann has approached her work with intelligence, dedication, and wit. Stamps as we know it today owes an enormous gratitude to her leadership.”
In retirement, Joann shares that she’s looking forward to enjoying her freedom. “I plan to travel sometime other than the middle two weeks of August, enjoy the restorative humility of volunteer work, and otherwise do whatever I want without interference,” McDaniel says.
“I will miss talking with the students and hearing their ideas and opinions,” she says. “I’ll also miss encouraging them, particularly to demand respect, to be bold and to speak up.”
