Amy Bonomi appointed head of SDSU’s College of Health and Human Services
The new dean held previous positions at Northern Arizona University and Michigan State.
Amy Bonomi, a former associate dean at Northern Arizona University (NAU) and an internationally known researcher and scholar on domestic and sexual violence, starts her position as dean of the College of Health and Human Services (HHS) at San Diego State University on July 1.
Bonomi’s appointment, announced May 30, fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Steven Hooker after six years as dean.
Bonomi was associate dean of strategic initiatives at NAU’s College of Health and Human Services and previously served as the human development department chair in Michigan State University’s (MSU) College of Social Science.
In 2021, Bonomi founded Social Justice Associates, a small Broomfield, Colorado-based organization that works with individuals and organizations to promote healthy, equitable and inclusive working and learning environments.
At SDSU, Bonomi will lead a college dedicated to community-focused research and professional education in its field. HHS has five schools: Nursing, Public Health, Exercise and Nutritional Sciences, Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, and Social Work.
Bonomi “is a proven university administrator who has demonstrated exceptional dedication to advancing student success and career outcomes," said SDSU interim provost and senior vice president William Tong. "She is also an award-winning scholar and researcher with a strong track record of connecting higher education to public-health initiatives, especially in historically underserved communities."
At NAU, Tong said in a campus announcement, Bonomi was highly regarded for initiatives specifically serving rural and underserved communities as well as Indigenous tribal nations.
Bonomi is co-chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC), also known as the Injury Center, at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
During her seven years at MSU Bonomi founded the Women’s Leadership Institute at its College of Social Sciences, designed to “ignite women leaders” and advance leadership equity for women globally.
Her record at MSU speaks to several SDSU priorities: she generated more than $3 million in philanthropic gifts, including an endowed faculty fellowship. She also recruited nationally renowned research faculty with a specific focus on community-engaged scholarship, and was credited with increasing leadership opportunities for nontenure track faculty and staff.
She was an associate professor at The Ohio State University, where she conducted widely cited research on domestic and sexual violence and was named a Distinguished Scholar.
Her research has been widely cited, and she has either authored or co-authored nearly 100 peer-reviewed articles and several books and book chapters on topics related to public health, health risk factors, well-being and support for persons who have experienced domestic and sexual violence.
In 2023, she co-authored (with David Martin) “Recantation and Domestic Violence: The Untold Story” (2023, Routledge), a book for professionals on the dynamics of criminal cases where victims have recanted accounts of felony-level domestic violence.
Bonomi earned her bachelor’s degree at Loyola University in Chicago, and both her master of public health and Ph.D. at the University of Washington in Seattle.
