Dr. Rachel Gordon is associate dean for research and administration and professor of health studies (with tenure) in the College of Health and Human Sciences at Northern Illinois University.

Prior to joining NIU, Dr. Gordon spent over two decades at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) where she was a tenured professor of sociology and served as chair of social science research, as well as chair of the executive committee in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and was associate director for the social sciences at the Institute for Health Research and Policy. She was also a tenured professor, associate director and senior scholar at the University of Illinois System’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs, where she chaired the System-Wide Working Group on Education and Learning. Dr. Gordon additionally spent the 2021-2022 academic year as director of the Picard Center for Child Development and Lifelong Learning, Loyd Rockhold Endowed Chair in Child Development, and a professor of sociology (with tenure) at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.