Graduate School Executive Profiles

Before assuming the deanship, Dr. Denham served as Associate Dean for Graduate Academic Affairs in the UA Graduate School, where he led campus-wide work on new graduate program development, professional development, and graduate student success. During his time as Associate Dean, he conceived and launched Crimson Odyssey, the University’s first campus-wide graduate student mentorship program; founded the Graduate Teaching Fellows program; and created the Preparing Future Faculty and Scholars professional development seminar. Earlier, he served as Graduate Program Coordinator for the Instructional Technology program, housed in the UA College of Education.A 2025–26 American Council on Education Fellow hosted by Virginia Tech, Dr. Denham completed a full-year executive immersion in presidential decision-making, university governance, and cross-divisional alignment at a peer R1 land-grant institution. He is a graduate of the Southeastern Conference Academic Leadership Development Program and the Council of Graduate Schools New Deans Institute, and recently served as chair of the Awards Committee of the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools and as a member of its Executive Committee.

With a scholarly foundation in educational technology and the learning sciences, Dr. Denham is the author or co-author of more than 20 peer-reviewed journal articles, a co-authored book on globalization and learning technologies, and multiple book chapters on game-based learning, mobile learning, and emerging technologies in education. He has served as principal investigator, co-principal investigator, or senior personnel on more than $7 million in external research funding, including awards from the National Science Foundation supporting work in physiological computing, augmented reality, and entrepreneurial innovation in Alabama. He holds a Ph.D. in Educational Technology from Arizona State University, an M.A. in Curriculum & Instruction from La Sierra University, and a B.A. in Mathematics from Oakwood University, and serves as Professor of Instructional Technology in the UA College of Education.

Dr. Denham’s work as dean is grounded in a clear set of commitments:

1. to develop and articulate a bold, forward-looking shared vision for graduate education at UA;
2. to continue growing enrollment through targeted recruitment, streamlined admissions, competitive funding, and innovative programs aligned with demand and the workforce;
3. to build the support structures and systems, graduate education needs to succeed at a research university;
4. to establish exemplary shared standards for graduate student mentorship, support, and success;
5.  and to strategically invest in graduate student success initiatives while securing additional resources for graduate education.

Taken together, these commitments are aimed at a single throughline: helping graduate students at The University of Alabama thrive, ensuring faculty feel supported in the work of mentoring and teaching them, and building a Graduate School that stands as an exemplar of what graduate education at a flagship public research university can be.

Dr. Holley earned her Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of Southern California and assumed a faculty role at The University of Alabama in 2006. She served for multiple years as coordinator of the Higher Education program and a member of the UA Graduate Council.  She has also been a faculty mentor in the Tide Together Mentoring Program and part of the Graduate Parent Support Program.

Alongside her role in the Graduate School, she works on grant-funded projects supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health related to the graduate curriculum, the graduate student experience, and career development for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. She has published widely on doctoral supervision and career outcomes for graduate students from comparative and international perspectives.

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In his career as a geophysicist, Dr. Goodliffe has worked worldwide on geophysical projects including active volcanoes, continental rifting, seafloor mapping and geological carbon sequestration. Other important projects include the application of geophysical techniques to the location of sub-sea-ice crashed aircraft and the drilling of eight deep exploration wells. He has served as an observer for the United Nations SOPAC program, is extensively published and has secured more than $10 million in grant funding during his career.

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Dr. Lodree joined The University of Alabama in 2009 as an Assistant Professor of Operations Management in the Culverhouse College of Business. He was tenured and promoted to Associate Professor in 2012, and then promoted to Full Professor in 2019. 

Prior to joining UA in 2009, Dr. Lodree held the position of Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering at Auburn University from 2004 to 2009, and a position of the same title at North Carolina A&T State University from 2002 to 2004. 

His research focuses on the application of deterministic and stochastic operations research methods to logistical issues that arise in humanitarian relief operations. Personal experiences inspire his work in this area. He is a native of New Orleans directly impacted by Hurricane Katrina, and he also experienced the historic 2011 tornado outbreak in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Dr. Lodree’s work in relief logistics has addressed inventory control policies for emergency supply items and operational policies for managing spontaneous volunteers during post-disaster relief efforts. His current work focuses on the logistics of food bank supply chains.

Dr. Lodree earned a B.S. and M.S. in Mathematics from the University of New Orleans and M.S. and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Missouri.

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