Rebecca Dingo Named Associate Dean for Faculty
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The University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Humanities and Fine Arts has named Rebecca Dingo associate dean for faculty. A professor of English specializing in composition and rhetoric, Dingo brings extensive experience in faculty development, mentoring, academic leadership, and personnel processes to the role.
“Rebecca understands the opportunities and challenges faculty encounter throughout their careers, and she brings both deep institutional knowledge and a genuine commitment to helping colleagues thrive,” said Maria del Guadalupe (Lupe) Davidson, dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts. “Her collaborative approach, breadth of experience, and dedication to clear and transparent processes will make her an exceptional advocate and resource for faculty across the college.”
We asked Dingo to share more about the role, the experiences that will shape her approach, and her priorities as associate dean for faculty.
How would you describe the work of Associate Dean for Faculty, for colleagues who may not know what the role involves day to day?
At its heart, this role is about helping faculty thrive throughout their careers. The work spans everything from hiring and onboarding new colleagues to supporting annual reviews, promotion and tenure, mentoring, leadership development, retention, and faculty recognition.
Day to day, that means working closely with department chairs, personnel committees, the Dean's Office, Academic Human Resources, and the Provost's Office, but it also means listening to faculty and helping them navigate systems that can sometimes feel complicated or opaque. I see the role as part advocate, part mentor, part translator, and part problem-solver. My goal is to help make expectations clearer, processes more transparent, and pathways more visible so that faculty can focus on the work that brought them here in the first place.
What are your first priorities?
My first priority is to spend time listening. HFA is an incredibly diverse college, and every department has its own culture, strengths, and challenges. Before making changes, I want to learn from chairs, faculty, personnel committees, and staff about what is already working well and where additional support would be most helpful.
I am especially interested in strengthening support across the faculty career lifecycle. Through my work in the Office of Faculty Development, I've seen how much difference mentoring and clear guidance can make, particularly during major career transitions. I hope to build on the strong work already happening in HFA while exploring additional ways to support pre-tenure faculty, midcareer faculty working toward promotion, and full professors who continue to make important contributions to the college and university.
What are you most looking forward to in the role?
What excites me most is the opportunity to work with faculty from across the college. One of the things I love about HFA is the extraordinary range of scholarship, creative activity, teaching, and public engagement that takes place here every day.
Throughout my career, I've had the opportunity to wear many different hats: faculty member, advisor, mentor, program director, journal editor, committee member, and faculty development leader. I've always enjoyed helping colleagues find pathways forward, whether that means developing a research agenda, navigating promotion, assuming leadership roles, or finding support at a challenging point in a career. This role provides an opportunity to do that work on a broader scale across the college, and I am genuinely excited about that.
What in your own experience at UMass shapes how you'll approach the role?
I think what most shapes my approach is that I understand faculty work from many different perspectives.
As a faculty member, I understand the challenges and joys of balancing teaching, research, mentoring, service, and administration. I have gone through promotion and tenure processes, published books and articles, advised graduate students through dissertations, and served on a wide range of department, college, and university committees. Those experiences have given me a deep appreciation for just how complex faculty careers really are.
My work as director of the Writing Program gave me extensive experience with hiring, evaluation, promotion, mentoring, budgeting, and personnel processes in a large and complex environment. More recently, my work in the Office of Faculty Development provided a university-wide perspective on faculty careers and the kinds of structures that help faculty succeed.
My scholarly career has shaped me as well. As a journal editor, book author, reviewer, and mentor, I've spent years helping scholars develop their ideas, navigate publication processes, and build successful academic careers. Advising doctoral students and mentoring faculty nationally and internationally has reinforced my belief that strong mentorship, clear expectations, and thoughtful support can make an enormous difference in helping people reach their goals.
Is there work already underway you want to continue or build on?
Absolutely. HFA already has many talented chairs, personnel committees, and faculty leaders who are doing important work to support their colleagues. I see my role as building on those strengths rather than reinventing them.
I am particularly interested in continuing the college's efforts around mentoring, faculty development, and transparent personnel processes. I also look forward to collaborating with colleagues on ways to support faculty at key career transitions, especially those moving toward promotion to professor and those taking on leadership or administrative responsibilities. My experience developing the OFD Scholars program for midcareer faculty has convinced me that there are exciting opportunities to build even stronger support structures in this area.
Anything you'd want faculty to know about how and when to reach you?
I hope faculty will see me as a resource and a partner.
One reason I was interested in this position is that I genuinely enjoy talking with faculty about their work and helping them think through opportunities, challenges, and career goals. Whether someone has questions about promotion, mentoring, annual reviews, hiring, leadership opportunities, workload concerns, or simply wants to talk through a professional decision, I am happy to listen and help.
I also know from my own experience that faculty work can sometimes feel overwhelming. Most of us are simultaneously teachers, researchers, mentors, advisors, committee members, and often administrators as well. Because I've spent time in many of those roles myself, I understand how complicated faculty careers can be. I hope colleagues will feel comfortable reaching out early, before a small question becomes a larger concern. My door will always be open, and I look forward to learning from and working with faculty across the college.