Dianna Shandy took on the position of the Kenyon's top academic officer in August, 2026. A first-generation college student originally from rural Kansas, Shandy has devoted her career to the transformational power of the liberal arts.
Trained as an anthropologist at Columbia University, Shandy held positions of increasing responsibility at Macalester College in Minnesota, where she spent more than two decades and concluded as associate provost for strategic initiatives. Other roles there included serving as the inaugural (interim) dean of the faculty and associate dean of the Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship. She most recently served as the provost and vice president of academic affairs at Augustana College.
Shandy has a Bachelor of Science in languages from Georgetown University, with certificates in African studies and Russian area studies. She has a Master of Arts in anthropology and education and a doctorate in anthropology, all from Columbia.
Her scholarly work has focused on migration and diaspora, gender, qualitative research methods and the teaching of anthropology. She is the author or editor of nine books and edited volumes, including “Conformity and Conflict: Readings in Cultural Anthropology.”
Shandy has served as an American Council on Education Fellow at Elon University and is on the finance committee for the American Anthropological Association. At Macalester, she received the Trustee’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research and Service.
Education
2001 — Doctor of Philosophy from Columbia University
1999 — Master of Philosophy from Columbia University
1995 — Master of Arts from Columbia University
1990 — Bachelor of Science from Georgetown University