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Colin McGill, Ph.D., was appointed interim dean of the Graduate School in November 2025. In this role, he provides leadership in graduate education at °µÍøÊÓƵthrough advocacy, partnerships, grants, curriculum development, and administration, as well as guidance and oversight of all graduate-level interdisciplinary degrees. He also serves as Vice Provost for Faculty Success, a position he has held since December 2024 following an interim appointment.

Prior to these appointments, McGill was a professor of chemistry. Since joining UAA as faculty in 2011, he has held several leadership positions, including department chair for Chemistry (2017–2023), director of the Office of Undergraduate Research & Scholarship (2019–2021), chair of Chemistry Department Curriculum Development (2012–2023), and faculty fellow for the College of Arts and Sciences (2023).

McGill holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology and an M.S. in chemistry from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). He also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the WWAMI School of Medical Education at UAA.

Mary Jo Finney, Ph.D., Senior Faculty Fellow of Graduate Education, collaborates with the interim dean of the Graduate School to provide administrative guidance, professional development, institutional knowledge, and more. Her previous role at °µÍøÊÓƵwas dean of the Graduate School from 2020 to 2025. Prior to that, she was a tenured professor of education, chair of the Education Department, and director of the secondary teacher certification program at the University of Michigan–Flint.

Her Ph.D. in Reading and Language Arts, with a focus on psycholinguistics, literacy, and comprehension across the lifespan, undergirds her research on literacy among struggling readers of all ages. With over 20 years of teaching experience at the doctoral, master’s, and baccalaureate levels, Mary Jo has taught courses in leadership, literacy, assessment, research methodologies, nursing education, and interdisciplinary learning. She established international and intercultural teacher identity exchange programs in Prague, Czech Republic, and Beijing, China.

Her administrative roles include serving as an academic dean, director of faculty development, department chair, and director of a clinically based, urban master’s degree program serving urban, rural, international, and rural Alaskan schools.

Kristen VanDeRostyne is the administrative assistant for the Graduate School. She is originally from Parker, South Dakota (population 1,033), where she grew up on an acreage with horses, cows, dogs, and cats. After graduating from high school, she joined the South Dakota Air National Guard, a component of the U.S. Air Force. Following basic military training, she began working on her bachelor’s degree in business management with a minor in international business at Northern State University.

While attending college, Kristen continued to serve in the military part-time and deployed to the Middle East midway through her education. Before graduating, she studied abroad in Australia, completing an internship at a five-star hotel in Gold Coast. After earning her degree magna cum laude, she moved to Seattle to work for Amazon as an operations manager and later for EOS IT Solutions in the same role. Her professional experience includes managing teams, forecasting, product management, and inventory control.

Tiffany Creed is the communications specialist for the Graduate School. She grew up in Kotzebue, Fairbanks, and Sitka, Alaska. Tiffany earned a Bachelor of Arts in Film from Portland State University in 2013 and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Literary Arts from the °µÍøÊÓƵ in 2018. She has worked in communications, social media, and web development across education, government, healthcare, and recreation (including dog mushing!). Before coming to UAA, she was the communications director for Maniilaq Association, a tribal, social and healthcare provider for Northwest Alaska, as well as the manager of a legislative information office. In her current role, Tiffany develops and maintains communications for the Graduate School, including web content, digital media, print materials, administrative support, events, and various outreach efforts.

Sunny Mall, Ph.D., is the program director of the McNair Scholars Program and has a background as a mathematics teacher, teacher educator, and administrator. She has lived in Alaska her entire life—born in Chugiak and working mainly in Anchorage and Homer—except for a summer in South Korea, one in Japan, and three years in Nepal with the Peace Corps. She holds degrees in mathematics, teaching, and mathematics curriculum with an emphasis on rural education.

In the classroom, her goal has consistently been to instill in reluctant math learners a love of mathematics and a joy of learning. Her research interests include patterning, reasoning, and teacher disposition. In the McNair Scholars Program, she works to enhance the undergraduate experience for students from first-generation, income-eligible, and underrepresented backgrounds. She encourages any undergraduate student with questions about graduate school to reach out for a meeting, regardless of their intention to apply for McNair, as opportunities abound for anyone serious about pursuing post-baccalaureate education.