Allison K. Dykes

Allison K. Dykes is vice president and secretary of the university, a role she has held since 2014. She and her team are responsible for facilitating and supporting the Board of Trustees in its work of governing the university by establishing policy and exercising fiduciary responsibility for the long-term well-being of the institution, including real property, endowment, all contracts, financial resources, faculty appointments, and student life.

The Office of the Secretary facilitates the engaged collaboration of the president’s leadership team as well as others throughout the Emory community to promote effective and sound university governance. The office is also responsible for preserving institutional memory by maintaining the official record of the Board of Trustees.

Dykes and her team manage and assist the Honorary Degrees Committee, which reviews all honorary degree nominations submitted by the Emory community and recommends to the president a slate of candidates who represent the highest values and breadth of the university's mission “to create, preserve, teach, and apply knowledge in the service of humanity.”

She joined Emory in 1997 as director of regional programs for the Emory Alumni Association and in 2003 was named vice president for alumni relations. She received the Emory University Award of Distinction, Emory’s highest staff honor, in 2012.

A 1992 graduate of the University of Georgia, Dykes holds a bachelor’s degree in French and a certificate in global policy studies.