University Appoints Associate Provost,
Interim Dean and Associate Dean

St. Bonaventure University Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Michael Fischer Ph.D., announced today the appointment of three academic affairs administrators: Peggy Yehl Burke, Ed.D., as associate provost and dean of the School of Graduate Studies; Joseph E. Zimmer, Ph.D., as interim dean of the School of Education; and Carol M. Fischer, Ph.D., as associate dean of the School of Business. All of these appointments are effective immediately.

“We are extremely fortunate to have such talent and expertise within the ranks of our faculty and who are willing to take on new and additional responsibilities,” said Provost Fischer. “With these appointments, we are positioned as never before to assertively pursue the goals outlined in our strategic plan, Becoming Extraordinary 2015.”

An associate professor of education, associate provost and dean of Graduate Studies, Burke has served the university’s School of Education in the classroom and administration since 1978. From 2003 to the present she served as dean of the School of Education, and in 2006 she also assumed the role of dean of Graduate Studies. She is the founding chair of the Academic Program Evaluation Committee, and has served in that role for three years. Throughout her career, she has served on numerous committees and task forces for the university, including serving as Faculty Senate representative to the Board of Trustees Handbook Amendment Committee and as co-chair of the Summer Curriculum Commission that developed the proposal for Clare College.

She is an accreditation evaluator for the Middle States Association, Association of Childhood Education, and the National Commission for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). Formerly, she served as a reviewer for the Pennsylvania Department of Education. She has also served as the Higher Education Representative for the District Planning Committees of Allegany-Limestone and Cuba-Rushford school districts.

As associate provost and dean of Graduate Studies, she will focus her efforts in areas such as planning; new program development, approval, and implementation; assessment of student learning outcomes and institutional effectiveness; and student success and retention. She will have supervisory responsibility for the First-Year Experience, Teaching and Learning Center, International Studies, Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program, and Graduate Studies.

Burke earned her bachelor’s degree in biology and master of education degree in advanced teacher education from St. Bonaventure and her doctor of education degree in curriculum planning from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

“I am excited about the opportunity to support the institution-wide focus on academics spelled out in our strategic plan and look forward to working closely with Provost Fischer and his leadership team to achieve this vision,” said Burke.

Interim Dean of the School of Education Joseph E. Zimmer is an associate professor in the School of Education. Appointed as assistant professor in 1992, he also served as assistant dean from 2001-2003. Since 1998, he has served as director of the M.S.Ed. Literacy Programs, director of the university’s Reading Center since 1997, and National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) coordinator since 2003. Since 2008, Zimmer has also served in the university-wide role as Accreditation Liaison Officer for Middle States Regional Accreditation. He was chair of the Faculty Senate from 2000-2005.

Zimmer is a co-author of a $3 million grant to promote early reading programs in the Olean City School District. He has served on the editorial boards of the international journal The Reading Teacher, and the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. He is the author of numerous publications in the field of reading.

Prior to his service at St. Bonaventure, he was an assistant professor of English at Grand Valley State University and the reading/writing coordinator of the Thomas Edwards Learning Center at the University at Buffalo.

Zimmer earned his bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in teacher education, master of education degree in English education, and doctorate in reading education from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

“I am humbled at the confidence placed in me by my colleagues. I hope to continue the tradition of excellence that has become a hallmark of the School of Education at St. Bonaventure especially in these challenging times for educators,” said Zimmer.

School of Business Associate Dean Carol Fischer is a professor of accounting in the School of Business. Serving for three years as assistant professor from 1985-1988, she returned to St. Bonaventure in 1993 following the completion of her Ph.D. in business administration with concentration in accounting from The Pennsylvania State University. She was promoted to associate professor in 1994 and professor in 2001.

In addition to teaching courses in both the graduate and undergraduate accounting programs, Fischer is a member of the First-Year Experience Council, Institutional Review Board, All Bonaventure Reads Committee, and University Assessment Committee among numerous other school and university-wide groups. She organized the first Accountants in Residence Day for the School of Business in 1993 and earned the St. Bonaventure University Professional Excellence in Teaching Award in 2004.

She maintains an active publishing agenda and has served as associate editor and as a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of the American Taxation Association and on the editorial boards of Issues in Accounting Education (1998-2005; 2010-present) and BQuest (2006-present). She is the co-author of the 2011 grant titled “Diversity Initiative to Enhance Recruitment and Retention of Minority Students in Accounting,” which is funded by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Prior to her service at St. Bonaventure, Fischer was a staff accountant at Price Waterhouse in Buffalo and corporate controller and manager of internal audit at Merchants Insurance Group in Buffalo. She also served as accounting instructor at Daemen College. She earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting from St. Bonaventure; MBA from the State University of New York at Buffalo; and, in 1982, her CPA certification from New York state.

“I look forward to the challenges of serving my colleagues and our students as the associate dean. In this role, I plan to focus on a comprehensive review of our undergraduate and MBA curricula, as well as ensuring that we continue to meet the rigorous standards to maintain our AACSB accreditation,” said Fischer.

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