Dr. Rhonda G. Phillips
Phillips currently serves as president of Chatham University in Pittsburgh. Her higher education leadership roles have been concentrated on honors education, enriched by a wide variety of interdisciplinary teaching, research, mentoring, editorial and service contributions in the public and private sectors. She joined Chatham following completion of her decade-long role as the inaugural dean of the John Martinson Honors College at Purdue University.
Prior to Purdue, she was associate dean of Barrett, The Honors College of Arizona State University and also served ASU as a professor in the School of Community Resources and Development, and senior sustainability scientist at the Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability.
At the start of her academic career, she returned home to the University of Southern Mississippi, serving as director of the planning program in the Geography and Economic Development Department.
Phillips earned a PhD in city and regional planning from Georgia Tech – the first woman to do so - as well as master’s degrees in economics (Georgia Tech) and economic development (University of Southern Mississippi). She completed her undergraduate education with a B.S. in geography from Southern Mississippi.
