Bio

Dr. Cheryl Davenport Dozier’s higher education experience spans more than 30 years as a professor and administrator. Dr. Dozier is a Professor of Social Work at Georgia State University, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. She is President Emerita of Savannah State University (SSU) where she served from 2011-2019 as the 13th and first permanent female president. An educational and civic leader for over forty years, Dr. Dozier has been engaged in initiatives as an advocate for educational access, social justice, diversity, and equity and has received numerous awards for her work. 

After retiring as President, she returned to her passion for teaching and consulting as CEO of CDD Consultants. She specializes in the areas of leadership, diversity/inclusion, governance/board development, student success, and faculty development. She is an Executive Coach and Mentor to numerous academic professionals.

Dr. Dozier had a 17-year career at the University of Georgia (UGA) where she served as Associate Provost and Chief Diversity Officer, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor in the School of Social Work. She also served as faculty and Director for the Ghana Interdisciplinary Study Abroad Program and as affiliate faculty in the African Studies Institute and the Institute for African American Studies. She continues to serve as faculty/researcher on the Foot Soldier Project for Civil Rights Studies and Research at UGA.

Dr. Dozier was instrumental in enhancing the university’s global mission, in Ghana, Cameroon, Liberia, Nigeria, Brazil, Cuba, China, and India, and the creation of the Confucius Institute. She has traveled to countries in Africa, Asia, South, and Central America on educational excursions with faculty and students for over twenty years to ten countries. 

Dr. Dozier was the Associate Director of Outpatient Addiction Treatment Programs in New York for 12 years working with children of addicted parents, adolescents and adults who were homeless, incarcerated and dual diagnosed. She had a private family practice for several years. She was also a social service worker in a Head Start/Day Care Center.