Nineteen faculty members have accepted new leadership positions in departments and other academic units within the College of LAS for the 2023-24 academic year.
Executive officers lead each of the almost 70 departments, programs, schools, centers, and other academic units within the College of LAS.
In addition to the new executive officers, five faculty members will take associate and interim assistant dean positions starting with the 2023-24 academic year. These positions help manage operations across the college. This year LAS created an associate dean for research position.
“Our new executive officers and associate deans are experienced, hard-working, and capable members of the college and university,” said Venetria K. Patton, Harry E. Preble Dean of the College of LAS. “With their leadership, LAS will no doubt make strong advances in its missions of teaching and research. I also want to extend our gratitude to those who are leaving the posts. Their dedication and ideas have helped LAS grow its presence as a welcoming and successful environment.”
The new executive officer appointments are as follows:
Flavia Andrade, director, Lemann Center for Brazilian Studies
Eugene Avrutin, director, Program in Jewish Culture & Society
Aaron Benjamin, head, Department of Psychology
Julie Cidell, head, Department of Geography & Geographic Information Science
Candice Jenkins, head, Department of African American Studies
Erik McDuffie, acting director, Center for African Studies (Jan. 1 through Aug. 15, 2024)
Mariselle Meléndez, director, School of Literatures, Cultures & Linguistics
Harriett Murav, interim director, Program in Comparative & World Literature
Stephen Nesbitt, head, Department of Atmospheric Sciences
Anke Pinkert, head, Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures
John Randolph, director, Russian, East European & Eurasian Center
Gilberto Rosas, chair, Department of Latina/Latino Studies
Emmanuel Rota, director, European Union Center
Deena Rymhs, acting director, Program in American Indian Studies
Dan Shao, head, Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures (starting Jan. 1, 2024)
Jonathan Sweedler, acting head, Department of Chemistry
Jeff Trapp, director, School of Earth, Society & Environment
Rod Wilson, interim head, Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures (through Dec. 31, 2023
Tony Wong, chair, Department of Astronomy
The new associate and interim assistant deans include:
Antony Augoustakis, associate dean for humanities and interdisciplinary programs
Alejandro Lleras, associate dean for diversity and inclusion
Cari Vanderpool, associate dean for research
Shaowen Wang, associate dean for life and physical sciences
Trina Wright-Dixon, interim assistant dean for inclusive excellence
