Colleagues,

With great pleasure, I announce that Covadonga “Cova” Lamar Prieto, Professor in the Department of Hispanic Studies, has been appointed Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Her five-year term began on July 1, 2024.

Cova takes on a leadership position familiar to many colleges across the University of California that have been reimagined to meet the academic aspirations of UC 2030 and the UCR Strategic Plan. While graduate studies and academic student employees will be a primary focus of her portfolio, Cova will also be the lead associate dean for non-departmentalized undergraduate academic degree programs. She will also lead collaborations with campus partners in strategic planning, enrollment management, and data analytics across our undergraduate and graduate programs. I am confident that Cova will deepen an already close partnership with the Assistant Dean for Student Success and the CHASS undergraduate academic advising team. We can all be grateful for Cova’s enthusiasm to join campus-wide efforts to strengthen our academic standing as a Hispanic-Serving research university. 

Since her 2012 arrival at UCR, Cova has been a faculty member of the Department of Hispanic Studies with specialization in the Sociolinguistics of the Spanish in the United States. She directs the Spanish of California Lab (SOCALab) at UCR and served as president of Asturian Studies. Cova has directed the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program and served as a CHASS faculty Equity Advisor. From August 1, 2022, she held the position of Interim Associate Dean for Student Academic Affairs. 

I thank the members of the search and selection committee, led by former Chair of Art History Kris Neville, and others who gave their feedback on this appointment. 

I am grateful that Cova has agreed to remain on the CHASS leadership team. Please join me in congratulating her.

Yours sincerely,

Daryle Williams
Professor of History and Dean
College of the Humanities, Arts,
and Social Sciences
University of California, Riverside