Dr. Kate Pechenkina has been appointed as SUNY Oswego’s next Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. Dr. Pechenkina comes to Oswego from Queens College of The City University of New York, where she has served as Dean of Faculty in the School of Social Sciences since 2020. Prior to her service as Dean, Dr. Pechenkina chaired the Anthropology Department at Queens College. As Dean, Dr. Pechenkina led an Andrew Mellon-funded initiative supporting research and career development for faculty in the social sciences and humanities across the College, spearheaded the establishment of Queens College’s new School of Business, championed the Small Business Development Initiative connecting students with small businesses in the Queens community, and oversaw the New York DeafBlind Collaborative, which coordinates education for children who are both vision and hearing impaired across New York State. She has been a strong advocate for student career readiness, integrating career competencies into the curriculum and forging partnerships that expanded internship and professional networking opportunities. She is a Professor of Anthropology, having taught undergraduate and graduate courses on Human Health in the Past, Human Genetics and Biological Variation, Human Skeletal Anatomy, Skeletal Analysis, and Anthropological Genomics. Her research interests include paleopathology, stable isotope analysis, and paleodiet in early China. Dr. Pechenkina earned an undergraduate degree in Biology from Moscow State University and a Doctorate in Anthropology from the University of Missouri.