Appointment of the Acting FAS Dean of Social Science (April 28, 2021)

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

Summary: This message announces the appointment of Steven Wilkinson as Acting FAS Dean of Social Science for the 2021-2022 academic year. I am grateful to Professor Wilkinson and to current FAS Dean of Social Science Alan Gerber for their leadership, and to the members of the FAS Social Science Dean Search Advisory Committee for their consultation and advice.]

To: FAS Faculty  
Cc: FAS Dean’s Office; FAS Steering; FAS Lead Administrators, Operations Managers, and Chair’s Assistants; Provost’s Office; President’s Office; University Cabinet, GSAS Dean’s Office, Yale College Dean’s Office
 
Dear colleagues,

As you learned from the message that I sent in February, Alan Gerber will soon be stepping down from his role as FAS Dean of the Social Science after more than seven years of dedicated service.

I am delighted to announce that Steven Wilkinson, the Nilekani Professor of India and South Asia, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, and Henry R. Luce Director of the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, has accepted my invitation to serve as Acting FAS Dean of the Social Science for the next academic year. In Fall 2021, he will serve alongside Alan Gerber. Alan’s decanal appointment will end when the fall semester comes to a close. At that time, Steven will assume the role of Acting FAS Dean of the Social Science for the Spring 2022 semester.  

I am grateful to Alan for his leadership. As the inaugural FAS Dean of the Social Science, Alan has steered the Social Science division through a period of exciting change and growth, facilitating cross-departmental partnerships and fortifying our strength in the data-intensive social sciences. In the FAS more broadly, he led the implementation committee for the revised Tenure and Appointments policy.  In addition, Alan’s leadership extends via his role as Director of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS), which he will continue to hold following his term as dean.  

Steven Wilkinson is a noted scholar of comparative politics and a distinguished campus leader. He served as chair of the Department of Political Science from 2014 to 2019, and assumed Directorship of the MacMillan Center in 2019. He is also currently the Deputy Chair of the FAS Faculty Senate. Steven is the author of many articles and books on South Asian politics including Votes and Violence (Cambridge, 2004), which won the best book award of the American Political Science Association, and most recently Army and Nation: India’s Military and Democracy since Independence (Harvard, 2015). He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. I look forward to working with him in this new leadership role over the next year.

I am grateful to the members of the search advisory committee who assisted with this selection process. The committee members are:  

  • Steven Berry, David Swensen Professor of Economics, Committee Chair   
  • Ana De La O, Associate Professor of Political Science   
  • Emily Erikson, Associate Professor of Sociology   
  • Anjelica Gonzalez, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Faculty Director of Tsai CITY (outside member)
  • Erik Harms, Associate Professor of Anthropology   
  • Jutta Joormann, Professor of Psychology   
  • Raffaella Zanuttini, Professor of Linguistics and Department Chair, Linguistics   
  • Harrison Zhou, Henry Ford II Professor of Statistics and Data Science, and Department Chair, Statistics and Data Science   
  • Staff: Bob Burger, Senior Associate Dean, Faculty of Arts and Sciences   

 
Thank you to all who shared your feedback and comments during this process. I look forward to our continued work together.

With warmest wishes,  

Tamar

Tamar Szabó Gendler
Dean, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Vincent J. Scully Professor of Philosophy
Professor of Psychology and Cognitive