FAS Dean of Science search

To: FAS faculty
Cc: FAS staff; FAS Dean's Office; FAS Steering; SEAS faculty; SEAS Dean's Office; President's Office; Provost's Office

Dear colleagues,

As I communicated in December, we are seeking a new FAS Dean of Science to succeed Larry Gladney when he steps down from the role. The new dean will be appointed effective July 1, 2026. 

Below is some information about the search advisory committee and the search process, and a brief description of the role. 

Committee membership

To inform the selection of the new FAS Dean of Science, I have appointed a faculty advisory committee that spans our biological and physical science units. I am very grateful to the committee members for agreeing to serve.

• Gary Brudvig, Committee Chair; Benjamin Silliman Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and Materials Science, Director of the Yale Energy Sciences Institute
• Marla Geha, Professor of Astronomy and Physics
• Steven Girvin, Sterling Professor of Physics and Professor of Applied Physics
• Anthony Koleske, Ensign Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and Professor of Neuroscience, Deputy Dean for Research (Basic Science) at Yale School of Medicine
• Anna Marie Pyle, Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and Professor of Chemistry
• Wilhelm Schlag, Phillips Professor of Mathematics and Professor of Applied and Computational Mathematics, Chair of the Department of Mathematics
• Mary-Louise Timmermans, Damon Wells Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
• Paul Turner, Rachel Carson Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

This committee will be assisted in its work by Dorottya Noble, Assistant Dean.

I have asked this committee to consider as potential candidates for the role of FAS Dean of Science current full professors in the FAS, and to provide me with a short list of candidates and a sense of their strengths.

The committee invites your nominations and feedback on potential candidates via this webform. If you are interested in being considered for the position, I encourage you to reach out to Gary Brudvig to let him know.

Roles and responsibilities

The FAS Dean of Science oversees the day-to-day well-being and mid- and long-term planning of the departments and programs in the science division of the FAS. They oversee faculty hiring plans, hiring processes, offers, recruitments, and retentions, as well as faculty promotion, tenure, and retirement for these FAS academic units. They chair the physical sciences & engineering advisory committee, and lead, with the Dean of the FAS (and as relevant, the Dean of the Medical School and the Dean of SEAS), the biological sciences and physical sciences & engineering tenure appointments and promotions committees. The Dean works closely and collaboratively with the Vice Provost for Research, and other central units to advance the Sciences at Yale. 

The FAS Dean of Science sits on the major FAS committees, including FAS Steering (which oversees all matters of FAS policy) and the Faculty Resource Committee (which oversees the allocation of all FAS ladder faculty searches). Together with the FAS deans of humanities and social science, they meet regularly with the Dean of the FAS to coordinate FAS-wide goals, strategies, policies, and practices. 

A more detailed description of the role is available online.

I look forward to working with you to identify candidates for this important role, and I extend my thanks once again to the search advisory committee for their assistance.

Sincerely,

Steven

Steven Wilkinson
Dean
Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Yale University