Dear Arts and Science friends:

One of my charges as dean is to oversee the recruitment of faculty, a process that goes on all year and culminates with new faculty arriving on campus each year.

This fall, the College of Arts and Science welcomed 20 new faculty, bright and inquisitive scholars with passion for teaching and imparting knowledge. Some are renowned researchers and teachers, and some are new Ph.D.’s. Lorrie Moore, the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English, is an award-winning author. Christopher “Kitt” Carpenter, professor of economics, is an economist who studies health behaviors, policies, and sexual orientation in the labor market. Lauren Parker Jackson, BS’03, assistant professor of biological sciences, is one of our own, a former Founder’s Medalist who earned her doctorate at Cambridge. Our new faculty bring strengths and perspectives in areas where we want the College of Arts and Science to grow. More about new faculty.

The College of Arts and Science presents six awards for teaching and advising excellence each fall. This year, the Jeffrey Nordhaus Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching went to Paul Stob (humanities), Patrick Abbot (natural sciences), and Gary Gerstle (social sciences). Christina Rennhoff received the Harriet S. Gilliam Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Senior Lecturer or Lecturer. The Ernest A. Jones Faculty Adviser Award was presented to Peter Rousseau, and the Alumni Outstanding Pre-Major Adviser Award was awarded to Beau Baca. Each award stems from student nomination, evaluation or voting. It is a pleasure to see these colleagues recognized for their excellence.

Best regards,

Carolyn Dever
Dean

Big footprints

A new video invites prospective students to walk in the shoes of outstanding alumni and students. Three of the four highlighted are College of Arts and Science people. What’s your path? Share at #ChooseYourPathVU

Other Arts and Science stories

Forbes admires how Matt Rubinger, BA’10, converted his liberal arts degree into a six-figure job right out of school, Scientific American revisits astronomy professor David Weintraub for revolutionary thinking, the LA Times quotes Larry Bartels on “incumbent party fatigue” and the MFA Program in Creative Writing moves up a spot to No. 9 in Poets & Writers‘ annual rankings.