Wellesley College Associate Dean Joanne Berger-Sweeney will becomethe dean of arts and sciences next month, after the position was vacated last month by the former dean, Robert Sternberg.
Berger-Sweeney, a professor of neuroscience, will assume the title beginning August 23, Provost and Senior Vice President Jamshed Bharucha said in an e-mail to the Tufts community on Thursday. The announcement brings the search for Sternberg's successor to a close.
"Professor Berger-Sweeney has demonstrated a strong commitment to critical issues such as need-blind admissions and increased financial aid," Bharucha said in the e-mail. "Her passion for teaching and the creation of new knowledge is reflected by the impressive credentials of the students and fellows she has guided" in her time at Wellesley.
Berger-Sweeney leaves a long legacy at Wellesley, which she attended as an undergraduate before becoming a member of the faculty in 1991. She took on the role of associate dean in 2004, the same year she began serving as the director of the neurosciences program at the college.
Her accomplishments in the field of neuroscience are numerous. Specializing in the areas of learning and memory, her studies have focused on neurological disorders,including Alzheimer's disease. Berger-Sweeney has been a member of theNational Science Foundation's Behavioral Neuroscience Review Panel, and served as treasurer for the Society for Neuroscience.
"She seems like a terrific fit for Tufts," Director of Public Relations Kim Thurler said. "Her commitment to research, her commitment to teaching, her concern for supporting diversity and access to education through increased financial aid – it seems like an excellent fit."
Berger-Sweeney could not be reached for comment.
Sternberg, who had for five years held the position of dean of arts and sciences, announced in December that he would move on rather than seek another five-year term as dean.
Bharucha convened an 11-person search committee, which he chaired, at the end of February. The committee consisted of five faculty members, three staff members and two students – one graduate and one undergraduate – in addition to Bharucha.
"Joanne emerged as the top candidate" at the end of a search process that at its inception involved "dozens" of candidates, Bharucha told the Daily. He declined to comment on the other candidates' identities.
Originally, the committee had aimed to name a successor by the end of the spring semester, but delays pushed back the official decision and subsequent e-mail announcement, which happened "immediately" after the decision was finalized, Bharucha said.
Members of the search committee were advised by the university not to comment on the selection process, according to committee member and philosophy department chair Nancy Bauer, who declined to comment.
Berger-Sweeney's former colleagues praised her vision and leadership in promoting the diversification of Wellesley's faculty and in strengthening interdisciplinary programs across the college.
She was tremendously effective in her position," said Adele Wolfson, a professor of chemistry andformer associate dean at Wellesley who served for the past six years with Berger-Sweeney. "Working with her really was one of the highlights of my career."
Along with other academic deans, Berger-Sweeney presided over the hiring of a sizable number of new faculty members, all the while emphasizing diversity among the best group of candidates possible. The deans also began to strengthen interdisciplinary programs at Wellesley, in part by appointing faculty specifically to those programs.
"I think she was a really powerful voice for high standards on our faculty," said Andrew Shennan, Wellesley's provost and dean.
"I have the greatest admiration and respect for her," Shennan said. "I think she is an outstanding scholar and an outstanding administrator."
Since Sternberg's formal departure at the end of June, Professor of Political Science Vickie Sullivan has served in the role of interim dean. Sullivan will continue in her capacity as interim dean until Berger-Sweeney's official start in late August, according to Bharucha.
Sternberg goes on to become the new provost and senior vice president at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Sternberg beat out three other finalists for the position there, an OSU spokesperson told the Daily in April.
Ben Gittleson contributed reporting to this article.
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