Dr. Camellia Moses Okpodu, a former professor and director at Norfolk State University, has been named the new dean of the Xavier College of Arts and Sciences. 

"We are tremendously excited about what Dr. Okpodu will do to enrich Arts and Sciences and Xavier as a whole," said XULA Senior Vice President and Provost Anne McCall. “Her leadership will be crucial to ensuring that Xavier continues its tradition of excellence in educating our students to become servant-leaders of the future." 

At Norfolk Okpodu was serving as director of the university’s NIH Extramural Research Office and as an American Council on Education Fellow. Her previous leadership experience also includes serving as Chair of the Biology department at Norfolk State and at Hampton University. She also held the first endowed professorship at Elizabeth City State University. 

Okpodu holds a B.S. in Biochemistry and Ph.D. degree in Plant Physiology/Biochemistry from North Carolina State University. Her Post-Doctoral work in Plant Molecular Biology was conducted at Virginia Tech.

Okpodu replaces Dr. Anil Kukreja, who is moving back into teaching after serving as Dean for six years. She will officially join Xavier in July.