By KATHERINE MEYER

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

In November 2012, Fordham’s Dean of the Graduate School of Social Services (GSS), Dr. Peter Vaughan, announced that he would be retiring from his position at the end of the 2013 spring semester.  Following the announcement, the Office of the Provost began the searchprocess. On April 5, it was announced that Dr. Debra McPhee had officially been hired to call the position.

“In Debra, we have an outstanding new dean who is committed to working closely with the faculty, students, and staff of the Graduate School of Social Service,” Stephen Freedman, Ph.D., provost of Fordham University and professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, said. “Together, they will sustain and advance the school’s long tradition of national preeminence in educating skilled, compassionate social workers to serve the human family.”

McPhee also expressed optimism about her appointment.

“I’m honored by my appointment as the new dean of Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service, and I am thrilled to be joining the Fordham community,” McPhee said of her new position.

McPhee earned a Ph.D. from the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto in 1998. She received her master’s degree from the School of Social Work at Columbia University in 1989 and did her undergraduate work in psychology at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, receiving her bachelor’s degree in 1986.

Currently, McPhee works as the Chief Operating Officer at LiivMD, an online company based in Palo Alto, Calif. that seeks to help people make “sustainable health changes,” through “engaging, interactive educational content, personalized assessments and goal trackers,” according to the official website. She began working there in 2010 as a consultant and in 2011 was asked to “help shepherd the LiivMD Company to their next level of achievement and sustainability.”

In the years leading up to her employment at LiivMD McPhee worked a wide variety of positions in the U.S., Europe and Canada. In 1988 she did community outreach work and research for the Living at Home Program at New York Hospital and Cornell Medical Center, and held a job as a community counselor for New York City’s Community Clubhouse Fountain House the following year. From 1989 to 1991 she served in the 7th Medical Command of the United States Army in the Netherlands as both a family advocacy program instructor and chief of social work services. She held lecturing positions in Toronto at both Ryerson University and the University of Toronto between the years of 1991 and 1996 and also served as Field Practicum Coordinator at Ryerson’s School of Social Work in 1994.

In 1997, McPhee became an associate professor of the School of Social Work at Barry University in Miami Shores, Fla. She became associate dean of the School of Social Work in 2002, and in 2005 was promoted to dean, a position she ultimately held for five years.

“I thrived on the challenges associated with a tuition driven institution located in the highly ethnically diverse city of Miami and the region of South Florida,” McPhee said of her time at Barry.

McPhee had several notable accomplishments during her tenure at Barry. Among other endeavors, she developed and implemented the first year-round undergraduate and graduate social work program in the United States, reduced the school’s operating budget by 26 percent, increased the profit margin over expenses by $2 million, increased student scholarships and donor contributions to the highest level in the school’s history and increased student enrollment by 15 percent between 2003 and 2010.

After her switch from her position at Barry University’s school of Social Work to a consulting position at LiivMD in 2010, McPhee said that she had been ready for some new experiences.

“In June 2010, having attained the goals I set for the School and myself, I was eager to engage in new areas of learning and research,” she said. “I have always been fascinated by the policy and operational challenges that rapidly changing technology present to organizational systems, especially with respect to higher education…I embraced this unique opportunity [at LiivMD] to build my technology and business skills.”

Despite her interest in LiivMD and the world of business and technology, McPhee’s foremost commitment is still to higher education and social work.

“As I look to the 2013-2014 academic year I am excited to explore a select few academic leadership opportunities where I believe I can make a significant contribution,” she said. “I have great respect for Fordham University’s commitment to excellence in research and teaching, for its preservation of the rich traditions of Jesuit education including fostering a spirit of innovation, rigorous thinking and a quest for the truth.”