Marcy Peteroy-Kelly, Ph.D., is the dean of Manhattan University’s Kakos School of Arts and Sciences.
Since joining the University in July 2022, Peteroy-Kelly has prioritized undergraduate student research, first-year student success, and instructional best practices for STEM faculty, among other initiatives. She has worked to expand eligibility for student participation in the University’s Summer Research Scholars Program, supported field research trips, and streamlined student success efforts through advising using a holistic caseload management model.
Under Peteroy-Kelly’s leadership, the Kakos School of Arts and Sciences has supported the launch of a new major in game design and production, minors in astronomy and quality science, an online computer science M.S. degree program and five 5-year combined degree programs (B.S.-M.S. in computer science; English B.A.-MBA; psychology B.A.-marriage and family counseling M.S.; psychology B.A.-mental health counseling M.S.; psychology B.A.-school counseling M.S.). She has also worked with the school’s advisory board to promote career development opportunities for both first-year and upper-class students.
Previously, Peteroy-Kelly served as the department chair and professor of biology at Pace University’s Dyson College of Arts and Sciences. As department chair at Pace, she was responsible for 11 degree programs in subdisciplines of biology and the health sciences. She also served as the course coordinator for the first- year biology curriculum, and as a faculty center teaching and learning fellow. She supported faculty professional development and created an advising program that fostered students’ academic, professional and personal success.
Since 2015, Peteroy-Kelly has been one of 50 Vision and Change Leadership Fellows in the Partnership for Undergraduate Life Sciences Education (PULSE), organized by the National Science Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the National Institute of Health/National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Through PULSE, she works with colleagues across the country to perform on-site evaluations of biology departments and analyze site visit data to determine the levers and barriers associated with department level change with the goal of enhancing student success.
Peteroy-Kelly has been awarded grants from the New York State Department of Education, the National Science Foundation and the American Society for Microbiology. She received her bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from the University of Buffalo and her Ph.D. in microbiology and molecular genetics from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.