FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: Katherine Hazelrigg, CGS: (202) 461-3888 / khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu

Washington, DC — The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has announced that Charles Ambler, currently associate provost and dean of the Graduate School at The University of Texas at El Paso, has been named the CGS Dean-in-Residence for 2019-2020.  Ambler has long been an advocate for diversity in graduate education, serving as a director of the McNair Scholars program at El Paso and leading a National Science Foundation (NSF) Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) grant in collaboration with Howard University. He is a member of the boards of CGS and the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).

The CGS Dean-in-Residence program was created to infuse a campus-based perspective across a variety of the Council’s initiatives. The program offers an opportunity for graduate deans, associate, or assistant deans at member institutions to spend an academic year at CGS’s Washington D.C. office. Each year the CGS president selects one applicant to pursue projects aligned with the dean’s interests and the Council’s needs.

Dr. Ambler, a historian of Africa who has had visiting scholar appointments at universities in Africa and the United Kingdom, will help the Council build strategic relationships with graduate education leaders in sub-Saharan Africa. This work will support CGS’s broader goals of supporting diversity and inclusion and helping CGS members internationalize their campuses.

“Dr. Ambler has spent his academic career dedicated to student success, mentoring, and ensuring access to quality graduate education,” said CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega. “His expertise and leadership in African studies will help CGS members better understand the evolving place of sub-Saharan Africa in the global graduate education landscape.”

In accepting the appointment, Ambler noted that working at CGS represents “an exciting opportunity to combine my deep interests in both graduate studies and international education. The Council is an essential resource for anyone interested in graduate education, and I look forward to contributing to its mission.”

Ambler received his Ph.D. from Yale University and is author or editor of four books. In 2010, he served as president of the African Studies Association, the major professional organization for scholars, teachers, and practitioners with interests in Africa. He has served as dean at El Paso for fifteen years, during a period when UT El Paso reached R1 status. He will step down from the dean’s role and the CGS board in July; his Dean-in-Residence position begins on August 1.

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