Continuing a campus-wide restructuring initiative, Northwestern University in Qatar has hired two new deans to run the newly-created academic affairs and research departments and two program directors for the Doha campus, according to a University news release.

Jeremy Cohen will serve as the chief academic officer and associate dean for academic affairs, and John Pavlik is the new associate dean for research.

The current restructuring program began last fall with the hiring of Sandra Richards to head liberal arts studies at the University. Richards holds a doctorate in drama from Stanford University and is a professor of African American and performance studies for the School of Communication. As part of the ongoing restructuring, NU-Q promoted three professors to director positions for the journalism, communication and liberal arts programs.

Dean and CEO Everette Dennis said in the news release the new heads will create “a maturation of the NU-Q program, connecting and integrating our academic services with professional outreach, all to be responsive to a digital and global society.”

The new positions were created to help NU-Q enter a “new phase of growth and development.” As the head of academic affairs, Cohen will work to increase collaboration between NU-Q and the other campuses in Doha’s Education City, a cluster of satellite university campuses. Pavlik will work to create a school-wide research program and develop new publication series, according to the release.

Cohen, who holds a doctorate in communications from the University of Washington, comes to NU-Q from Penn State University, where he served as the associate vice president and senior dean for undergraduate education. His expertise is in education and communication as well as democratic engagement.

Pavlik is the current director of the Journalism Research Institute at Rutgers University and is a journalism and communication professor there. He holds a doctorate in mass communication from the University of Minnesota.

The new deans will “bring exceptional reputations as institutional leaders, scholars and media experts to NU-Q and the Qatar community,” Dennis said in the release.

New director Mary Dedinsky, a former Chicago Sun-Times managing editor and a Medill professor in Evanston, will head the NU-Q journalism program. Dedinsky replaced former journalism head Richard Roth, who is now a senior associate dean.

Scott Curtis, a visual media expert and former president of the international cinema association Dormitor, will serve as director of the communication program. Curtis also holds a doctorate in film studies from the University of Iowa.