Arts and Sciences Dean Search Begins

Just five days after she formally inaugurated the search for a successor School of Engineering and Applied Sciences dean, President-elect Claudine Gay and Provost Alan Garber formally launched the search for her successor as Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) dean. She vacates the post when she leaves University Hall for Massachusetts Hall to assume her new responsibilities July 1. Gay referred to both searches at the FAS meeting on the afternoon of February 7—when she also disclosed that COVID-19 had finally caught up with her. (She hopes to be back on campus later this week.) Stressing the multiple opportunities for faculty members’ input into the search process, she said she hoped it would illuminate “what matters most” to the faculty, its current state, and the challenges her successor would face.

As is customary, a faculty advisory committee has been assembled to assist in the search. It includes faculty members from a wide array of FAS disciplines, and two representatives from other Harvard schools: a Business School professor and senior associate dean; the Law School dean. The members are:

Vincent Brown, Warren professor of American history and professor of African and African American studies

Glenda Carpio, professor of English and of African and African American studies, and chair of the Department of English

Yiling Chen, McKay professor of computer science

Melissa Dell, Furer professor of economics

Catherine Dulac, Morris University Professor, Higgins professor of molecular and cellular biology  

Peter Girguis, professor of organismic and evolutionary biology

Robert Howe, Lawrence professor of engineering 

Ju Yon Kim, Mink professor of English, and chair of the Theater, Dance, and Media concentration

Lakshminarayanan (Maha) Mahadevan, Valpine professor of applied mathematics, of organismic and evolutionary biology, and of physics, and faculty dean of Mather House

John Manning, Chu Dean and professor of law

Tsedal Neeley, Fitzhugh professor of business administration and senior associate dean for faculty development and research

Eric Nelson, Beren professor of government

Ann Pearson, Ross professor of environmental sciences, and chair of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences

Karen Thornber, Levin professor in literature and professor of East Asian languages and civilizations

Both Mahadevan and Neeley are getting a lot of search experience this academic year; each served on the faculty advisory committee for the search that resulted in the Corporation’s election of Gay as the next president