Graduate College Directory
Information About the Deans
Richard Wheeler, Dean
Richard Wheeler received his B.A. in English from Cornell College (Iowa) in 1965, and his M.A. (1967) and PhD (1970) in English from the State University of Buffalo. He joined the Department of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1969 and has been on the Illinois faculty ever since. His scholarship has been centrally concerned with identifying key psychological pattern that shape the development of Shakespeare's work and, more recently, plausible links between the plays and the life of their author.
From 1987 to 1997 he was Head of the Department of English at Illinois, and in 1999-2000 he was Acting Head of the Department of Anthropology. He became Dean of the Graduate College in 2000. He has been active in the Shakespeare Association of American and the Modern Language Association as well as, more recently, national and regional graduate school associations. He is past chair of the Executive Committee of the Midwest Association of Graduate Schools, past chair of the graduate deans group of the Committee for Institutional Cooperation, and chair of the Board of Directors of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS). For CGS, he has also served on and chaired the selection committee for the CGS/UMI prize for best dissertation in the humanities and fine arts, the selection committee for the Gustave O. Arlt Award in the Humanities, and the Finance-Audit Committee, and he is a member of the government relations committee. In addition, Dean Wheeler serves on the national Committee for the Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs.
Kelly Tappenden, Associate Dean
Kelly Tappenden received her B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Nutrition and Metabolism at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. She completed clinical training as a Registered Dietitian at the Misericordia Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta. After completing a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Texas-Houston Medical School, she joined the faculty at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in August 1997 as an Assistant Professor within the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition and the Division of Nutritional Sciences. In 2003, she was promoted to Associate Professor with indefinite tenure. While a faculty member at Illinois, Dr. Tappenden has advised many graduate students within her active research program directed at understanding the regulation of small intestinal function by various nutrients and gastrointestinal-specific peptides. In addition to providing leadership roles within her professional societies, she is a member of the Urbana campus Senate, Vice-Chair of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and has served on many other departmental, college and campus committees.
As Associate Dean of the Graduate College, her responsibilities focus primarily on academic programs. These include opportunities relating to Professional Master's and interdisciplinary graduate education, while providing oversight for the Graduate College Executive Committee, the Program Subcommittee of the Executive Committee, and the Masters of Bioinformatics Steering Committee.
William Welburn, Associate Dean
William Welburn joined the Graduate College in August 2006. He gives oversight on diversity initiatives of the Graduate College, specifically in areas of recruitment and retention, and provides administrative support for the Graduate College's Offices of Educational Equity Programs, Fellowships, and Graduate Admissions. He works with the College's Fellowship Board and its subcommittee on Minority Programs, and assists in developing memoranda of agreements supporting international inter-institutional exchange programs that involve graduate students. Welburn also represents the Graduate College on campus committees and works with individual graduate students.
A native of Pennsylvania, Welburn received his Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Syracuse University, Master of Science in Library Science from Atlanta University, and a PhD in Library and Information Science from Indiana University. He was employed by the University of Iowa from 1990 - 2003, where he served for ten years as Assistant Dean of the Graduate College, and was an associate professor in Library and Information Science at the University of Arizona from 2003-2006.
Rebecca Bryant, Assistant Dean
Rebecca Bryant joined the Graduate College in May 2000. As Assistant Dean and Director of Career Advising and External Relations, she provides leadership for numerous programs to serve graduate student career and professional development at Illinois, and she serves as a regular contributor to the Chronicle of Higher Education. She has oversight for the annual Information Fair for Incoming Graduate Students, Symposium on Graduate Education, and the new Mentoring Workshop for Faculty, implemented in 2006 as part of the CGS PhD Completion Project, as well as a comprehensive series of career development events for graduate students. In addition, she is actively involved in the National Research Council (NRC) Assessment of Research Doctoral Programs. She previously served on the University of Illinois's UI Integrate Project, leading the design and implementation of pre-registration processes. Bryant is also active on campus as the Vice Chair of the Council of Academic Professionals, chair of the CAPE Awards committee, and serves on the campus Senate Executive Committee.
Bryant attended Butler University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), and earned her PhD in musicology from the University of Illinois. Her dissertation explored the influence of progressive era reform on social dance practices in Chicago, particularly the evolution of cabarets and ballrooms. She actively serves on the board of directors for Champaign County CASA, a not-for-profit organization committed to advocating for the best interests of abused and neglected children. In her spare time she enjoys writing, sewing, gardening, dancing, and travel.
Anne Kopera, Assistant Dean
Anne Kopera joined the Graduate College in September 2007. As Assistant Dean she is responsible for Graduate Student Academic Services (GSAS). GSAS provides services to currently enrolled graduate students and graduate programs in the areas of registration, records, student petitions, special situations, and conflict resolution.
A native of Chicago, Kopera completed her A.B., M.A. (both in English) and M. Ed. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She worked for NETCHE, a consortium of small Colleges in Nebraska, providing career and academic support services. She then coordinated advising services for the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she eventually served as Director of the Arts and Sciences Advising Center and Assistant Dean for Advising Services.
Deborah Richie, Executive Assistant Dean
Deborah Richie joined the Graduate College in October 2001. As Executive Assistant Dean, her primary responsibility is the administration of the Fellowship Office. In this role, Richie works with the Fellowship Board to manage campus-level graduate fellowship programs totaling some $3 million. This responsibility includes fellowship program design as well as the redistribution of resources to help achieve the campus goals for graduate education.
Prior to joining the Graduate College, Richie served as a Student Affairs administrator at Illinois with a focus on undergraduate students. She began her career at Illinois in 1988 as a Health Educator and her most recent position was Assistant Director of Housing for Academic Programs. As Assistant Director of Housing, Richie was directly involved with the campus-wide initiative to expand the living/learning communities and in-residence academic enhancement activities for undergraduates. Richie holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Indiana University and New York University, and earned her Ed.D. from the University of Illinois.
