PRESS RELEASES

Harris Search Associates recruits Dr. Ammina Kothari as Dean of the Gwen Ifill School of Media, Humanities, and Social Science at Simmons University

Following an extensive national search that included a highly competitive, diverse candidate pool from across the country, we are pleased to announce the recruitment of Dr. Ammina Kothari as Dean of the Gwen Iffil School of Media, Humanities, and Social Science at Simmons University. The appointment of Dr. Kothari follows an expansive search which included vetting more than 60 candidates. The search committee interviewed 18 semifinalists and welcomed three finalists to campus to meet with members of the Simmons community.

Dr. Ammina Kothari announcement

Dr. Kothari has most recently served as Director of the Harrington School of Communication and Media at the University of Rhode Island since 2021, where she worked with local media partners to establish scholarship and internship opportunities for students. Under her leadership, the school established the Social Media Research Lab, which allows students to work with industry partners to apply their classroom knowledge to real-world scenarios. In 2023, Dr. Kothari was inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi honors society and was selected as a Scripps Howard Leadership Academy Fellow. A dynamic, energetic, and collaborative leader, she impressed the search committee with her leadership experience both at URI and earlier at the Rochester Institute of Technology. At RIT, she served as a program director at both the graduate and undergraduate levels and received the Eisenhart Award for Outstanding Teaching, RIT’s highest honor for tenured faculty. She has demonstrated an active commitment to interdisciplinarity and collaboration in her teaching and research.

Dr. Kothari’s scholarship has a global reach and includes research on timely issues, including artificial intelligence and its implications for journalism and communication, social media and its impact on mental health, and issues affecting minority communities in the U.S. and around the world. She has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and presented at national and international conferences. Dr. Kothari holds a Ph.D. in mass communication, a master’s degree in communication and society, and a bachelor’s degree in English and print journalism.