Sarah C. Mangelsdorf, head of the department of psychology and a recent associate provost at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been appointed as acting dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Mangelsdorf succeeds Jesse G. Delia, who has held the position since 1994. Delia was recently appointed acting provost for the campus, filling the position left by Richard Herman, now the interim chancellor. Delia and Mangelsdorf began their new duties on Aug. 16.
"Sarah Mangelsdorf is an accomplished senior scholar who has broad and highly successful administrative experience with the full range of issues concerning undergraduate and graduate education; building and retaining an exceptional faculty, and nurturing excellence in academic units," Herman said.
"As an associate provost, she guided policy and priorities concerning undergraduate education across the campus. As the head of psychology, she led one of our most eminent departments and largest undergraduate and graduate programs. As a professor, she has received her college's highest award for teaching.
"In these and other contexts, Professor Mangelsdorf has demonstrated a deep understanding of the breadth of campus, the needs of disciplines from the sciences to the social sciences and the humanities, and the importance of excellence in teaching and research. I am delighted that guidance of LAS will be in the hands of such a skilled and accomplished academic leader and administrator."
Mangelsdorf earned her bachelor's degree in psychology in 1980 from Oberlin College in Ohio, and earned her doctorate in child psychology in 1988 from the University of Minnesota.
She joined the psychology department faculty at Illinois in 1992, after four years as a professor at the University of Michigan. From 1999 to 2001, she was an associate head of the department, then served as an associate provost for the campus from 2001 to 2003. She has been head of the psychology department since August 2003.
Mangelsdorf is the author of numerous articles on child development and developmental psychology, and has served on the editorial boards of five academic journals in the field of psychology. She has been honored several times for her teaching, including the William Prokasy Teaching Award (1998), the highest award for teaching in LAS, and has appeared consistently on the campus list of excellent teachers.
