Pernella Deams

Dr. Pernella Rowena Deams is an academic administrator, formerly serving in the role of Vice President for Student Engagement and Campus Life at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Kentucky. She previously served in the role of Dean of Student Leadership, Conduct, and Health at Kentucky State University. Additional administrative experience includes Department Chair/Associate Professor of Psychology at Talladega College, in Talladega, Alabama, and Department Head/Associate Professor of Sociology & Psychology at Grambling State University, in Grambling, Louisiana. She is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Southern University and A&M College (Baton Rouge), completing dual Bachelor of Science degrees in both Psychology and Sociology. Her Master of Science degree was completed in the CACREP-Accredited Program in Counseling Psychology at the University of Southern Mississippi (Hattiesburg). Dr. Deams earned her Doctor of Philosophy degree in the APAAccredited Program in Counseling Psychology at Tennessee State University (Nashville).

Her clinical education includes internship placements at Vanderbilt University Psychological and Counseling Center, Vanderbilt Adult Psychiatry Center, and the University of Memphis Center for Counseling, Learning, and Testing. As a life-long learner, she recently completed the Certifications in Post-Crisis Leadership and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace through the University of South Florida, Muma College of Business and the Women In Education Leadership Program through the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. Pernella Deams is a Fellow of the Iota Cohort of the Higher Education Leadership Foundation (HELF), Leadership Institute, and an Academic Leadership Academy Fellow of the Bluegrass Higher Education Consortium.