Sheri Worthy (Photo by Chad Osburn/UGA)
Sheri Worthy, an academic leader with a record of teaching, research and service, has been named interim dean of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, effective Aug. 1.
Worthy is the Samuel A. and Sharon Y. Nickols Professor and currently serves as the college’s associate dean for academic programs. She previously served as head of the department of financial planning, housing, and consumer economics.
As associate dean for academic programs, Worthy oversees the college’s Student Success and Advising Center, all aspects of experiential learning, curriculum, assessment and the FACS scholarship and awards programs.
Her research explores topics such as consumer vulnerability, savings and financial risk-taking behaviors. A number of her research projects feature collaborations with State Agricultural Experiment Stations in Georgia and beyond. In addition to teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels, she has served as a faculty advisor to UGA Enactus, a student organization that seeks to use innovation and business principles to improve the world. She has served on the UGA Entrepreneurship Advisory Committee since its creation in 2015 and actively supports student social entrepreneurship.
Worthy was a 2018-2019 Fellow of the University’s Women’s Leadership Fellows Program and also completed LEAD21, an intensive year-long leadership training program for academic leaders at land-grant universities.
“I am confident that Dr. Worthy will provide exemplary leadership as interim dean of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences,” said S. Jack Hu, the university’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost.
As noted earlier, Dean Linda Kirk Fox has announced that she will retire on Aug. 1, following a decade of service. A 14-member search committee chaired by Kelly M. Smith, dean of the College of Pharmacy, has been appointed to conduct a national search for the next dean of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences