The current chair of the Department of Psychology joins the administrative team of the largest academic division at Elon University starting June 1, 2025.
An Elon University faculty member with a record of departmental leadership and a commitment to undergraduate research mentoring has been named the newest associate dean of Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences.
Associate Professor David Buck, currently chair of the Department of Psychology, begins his new role on June 1, 2025. Buck joins an administrative team led by Dean Hilton Kelly that includes Associate Deans Angela Lewellyn and Caroline Ketcham.
“Having several excellent and brilliant candidates who have been long-time faculty leaders in Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences, and Elon University more broadly, speaks volumes about the university’s leadership development opportunities,” Kelly said. “Dr. Buck’s proven leadership of the Department of Psychology and his skills in crisis management, faculty support, budget management and inclusive excellence, well-position him to join the College’s leadership team.”
Buck has served as chair of the Department of Psychology since 2021, following an interim appointment in Fall 2019. In that time, Buck has overseen the recruitment and hiring of nine full-time faculty as well as additional contingent faculty, initiated curriculum updates to better align the department’s major and minor with the American Psychological Association’s Guidelines for Undergraduate Education in Psychology, and led an internal self-study and external review of the program.
Buck also launched departmental initiatives to reduce barriers associated with student participation in high impact practices — such as supplemental financial support for students registering for summer internships and traveling to present at professional conferences.
Buck’s scholarly interests are in social psychology, stereotypes and prejudice, and LGBT issues, with current lines of research that focus on correlates of trans prejudice and sexual prejudice, as well as individual differences that influence the quality of intergroup interactions for both majority and minority group members.
In addition to his teaching, scholarship and departmental work, Buck has served on the Promotion and Tenure Committee, the Social Sciences Division Curriculum Committee, and most recently on the new Faculty Position Request Committee in Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences.
“I see the role of associate dean as an opportunity to support faculty and students on a larger scale by contributing to the strategic and operational work of the College,” Buck said. “I value transparency in leadership and actively involve faculty in the decision-making processes that shape our shared work. My hope is that in this new role, I will be able to help create structures and communication practices that are efficient and inclusive—responsive to both institutional priorities and individual voices.
“I am especially drawn to the role’s balance of academic leadership and operational strategy, and to its focus on faculty and student success, and I believe my experiences at Elon have prepared me to contribute meaningfully to that work.”
Buck succeeds Associate Dean Brandon Essary, who is concluding his administrative service to Elon College at the end of the semester and will continue to teach and research in the Department of World Languages and Cultures.
Members of the Search Committee
- Associate Professor Stephanie Baker (chair)
- Assistant Professor Archie Crowley
- Associate Professor Carrie Eaves
- Assistant Professor Jacob Gdovin
- Assistant Professor Katrina Jongman-Sereno
- Assistant Professor Jessica Merricks
- Professor Brian Pennington
- Senior Lecturer Clay Stevenson
About Elon College, the College of Arts & Sciences
Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences provides the foundation for the study of the liberal arts and sciences at Elon University. The college is comprised of 21 departments and 31 interdisciplinary programs across three branches: the arts and humanities; natural, mathematical and computational sciences; and social and behavioral sciences. It hosts Elon’s chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest honor society celebrating excellence in the liberal arts and sciences.
Committed to the growth of students’ intellectual curiosity, intercultural competence and critical thinking, the college champions disciplinary knowledge and interdisciplinary applications to reflect upon, respond to and offer solutions to complex problems in an interconnected and changing world.
With more than 45 majors and 65 minors, the college is Elon University’s largest academic division. Two-thirds of the nearly 1,600 students who graduate from Elon annually do so with at least one major or minor in the college. Within a year, over 90% of college graduates report employment in their chosen field or enrollment in top post-graduate programs.
College faculty are prolific and preeminent scholars and creators in their fields, recognized for expertise at national and international levels. Each year, its more than 300 full-time faculty publish hundreds of articles, chapters, and books, and they present at scores of conferences and events. Their scholarship results in grants and fellowships from the National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Institutes of Health and other prominent centers of research.