Shadi S. Martin, Ph.D., will begin work at UAB June 1, 2022.The University of Alabama at Birmingham has named Shadi S. Martin, Ph.D., vice provost for graduate and international education following a national search. Martin, a professor and founding dean of the University of Nevada, Reno School of Social Work, will begin work at UAB June 1, 2022.
“I am delighted to be able to return to Alabama and join the vibrant academic community at UAB,” said Martin, who spent more than a decade on the faculty in the School of Social Work at University of Alabama earlier in her career.
In this newly created and combined role, Martin also will be the university’s chief international officer and dean of the Graduate School, which serves more than 8,000 graduate students and post-doctoral scholars. She will lead the UAB Office of Global Engagement and the INTO UAB initiative, which strive to expand the global diversity of UAB’s student body and provide opportunities for international teaching, research and service.
“Dr. Martin will be a key player in moving UAB toward several of the goals in its strategic plan, Forging the Future,” said President Ray Watts. “I see tremendous synergies in having a single leader for both our graduate and international education initiatives.”
Martin brings extensive experience in an international academic environment to this role. She has worked with the World Health Organization in Europe and with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the Middle East, and she was a Fulbright Scholar in Damascus, Syria.
“Shadi has the perfect combination of experience in international and graduate education for this new position,” said Pam Benoit, Ph.D., provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs. “I am particularly pleased that she will bring and a strong record of interdisciplinary collaboration to this role.”
Martin has a robust record of scholarship related to health disparities affecting older African Americans, Hispanics and Middle Eastern immigrants, many which were collaborative efforts across varying disciplines. She has been awarded more than 20 research grants, including the prestigious Hartford Geriatric Faculty Scholar Award from the John A. Hartford Foundation.
Martin received her master’s degree and her doctorate in social work from the University of Utah, where she also earned master’s degrees in public administration, health services administration and political science. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology there also. Before joining the University of Nevada, Reno, Martin was the graduate program director and an associate professor in the School of Social Work at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
The national search was led by a committee chaired by Honors College Dean Shannon Blanton and assisted by the search firm Isaacson Miller. Lisa Schwiebert, Ph.D., who was appointed interim dean of the Graduate School effective Nov. 1, will continue serving in that role until Martin arrives.