Sonya Dal Cin Appointed Rackham Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Initiatives

Rackham Graduate School welcomes Sonya Dal Cin as associate dean for academic programs and initiatives. Her appointment was approved by the U-M Board of Regents and begins July 1. As associate dean, Dal Cin will have responsibility for relationships with Rackham programs in the social sciences.

In this position, Dal Cin will work closely with master’s and Ph.D. degree-granting programs to provide strong and effective leadership for graduate education, programs, and the Rackham community.

“I look forward to working with Professor Dal Cin to support our strong relationships with graduate programs in the social sciences and advance new initiatives in collaboration with our campus partners that enhance graduate scholarship, research, and education,” says Rackham Dean Mike Solomon. “She has long been a strong Rackham partner on multiple fronts, including advancing the professional development of graduate students.”

A faculty member in the Department of Communication and Media and research professor in the Institute for Social Research, Dal Cin focuses on how media affect people and on the factors that influence people’s media-related choices. This includes investigating the impact of media on psychological processes and perception, the assumptions about media use at various life stages from adolescence to old age, and the promise and limitations of story-based messages for impacting change-resistant beliefs and behaviors. Praised by her peers for her work’s creativity, timeliness, and methodological rigor, Dal Cin has crossed disciplinary boundaries to contribute to subjects as diverse as health, bioethics, and social informatics.

“Our social sciences graduate programs are among the best in the world,” she says. “That’s not an accident; it’s a reflection of the commitments of faculty and students in the programs, of program leadership, of Rackham, and of the university.”

Dal Cin boasts a record of service to rival that of her research. She has served on numerous committees both in her department and in the wider university community, all of which involve decision making, shared governance, and advising leadership. She has been an important mentor to and advocate for graduate students throughout her career. As associate chair for graduate studies, a Rackham faculty ally, and leader of the Advancing New Directions in Graduate Education team, she led efforts to improve mentoring, support student progress, and respond to challenges experienced by faculty and students within the communication doctoral program. She also serves as the faculty sponsor for the STEM-focused RELATE workshop at Rackham and actively participates mentoring international and first-generation graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. Her contributions to mentorship were recognized with a 2024 Rackham Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award.

“As a graduate program director, I saw the many ways that Rackham supports students, faculty, and programs,” she says. “Rackham staff and deans have been enormously helpful, and I’m looking to pay that forward. I’m also looking forward to working with colleagues across the university. My work, both research and service, involves interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration. I’ve found that innovation happens at intersections, when people bring their different perspectives, experiences, and expertise to a common goal or problem.”

Dal Cin earned her undergraduate degree in psychology from Queen’s University in 2000 and her Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Waterloo in 2005. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center—now the Dartmouth Cancer Center—she joined the University of Michigan faculty as an assistant professor of communication studies, adjunct professor of psychology, and faculty associate in the Research Center for Group Dynamics in 2007. She was promoted to associate professor in 2013 and professor in 2022.