Philosophers in Administrative Positions


A few months ago during a discussion here about the demand for philosophers, the importance of philosophers in high-level administrative roles came up.

Here’s the relevant bit:

One thing we should do is encourage universities and colleges to better promote the distinctive value of philosophy and the study of the liberal arts more broadly. But how do we get universities to take up the mission of sending that message? What you need are people in positions of power who care about sending that message. That’s us… And so it would serve philosophy well if more philosophers took up administrative positions at the colleges and universities. We don’t need philosopher kings, but philosopher deans and associate deans, philosopher provosts, and philosopher university presidents would be helpful.

Perhaps it would be good to have a running list of philosophers in these roles. For one thing, it’s a bit of profession-wide recognition for taking up a potentially valuable position. It can be beneficial for philosopher-administrators to be able to easily find out about each other. The list could also be useful as a resource for philosophers considering moving into administrative positions. And it could help us figure out whether having philosophers in administrative positions is actually good for philosophy at those institutions (and perhaps more broadly).

So let’s gather this information. What we’re looking for are philosophers in college- or university-wide administrative roles. If you know of any, add their name, title, and institution in the comments, with a link to their university page. I’ll start with a few names to get a list going. Periodically, I’ll move names provided in the comments to the list in the post itself.

Thanks.

Philosophers Currently in College- or University-Wide Administrative Positions

  • Christa Acampora, Dean of Arts and Sciences, University of Virginia
  • Lanier Anderson, Senior Associate Dean for the Humanities and Arts, Stanford University
  • William Bechtel, Senior Associate Dean of Academic Personnel, School of Arts and Humanities, UC San Diego
  • Rufus Black, Vice Chancellor, University of Tasmania
  • Frédéric Bouchard, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Université de Montréal
  • Samantha Brennan, Dean of Arts, University of Guelph
  • Jonathan Cohen, Associate Dean of Academic Personnel, School of Arts and Humanities, UC San Diego
  • Grant Cornwell, President, Rollins College
  • Ann Cudd, President, Portland State University
  • Tim Crane, Pro-Rector, Central European University, Vienna
  • Shannon Dea, Dean of Arts, University of Regina
  • John DeGioia, President, Georgetown University
  • Karen Detlefsen, Vice Provost for Education, University of Pennsylvania
  • Susan Dodds, Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Research and Industry Engagement)
  • William C. Dudley, President, Washing & Lee University
  • Saul Fisher, Associate Provost, Mercy University
  • Jennifer Frey, Dean of the Honors College, University of Tulsa
  • Tamar Gendler, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Yale University
  • Brie Gertler, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, University of Virginia
  • Peter Graham, Associate Dean of the UC Education Abroad Program, UC Riverside
  • Andrew Hamilton, Associate Vice Provost for Student Success, Dean of Undergraduate Studies, UNC Greensboro
  • Sean Kelly, Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Humanities, Harvard University (beginning July 1st)
  • Tim Kenyon, Acting Provost, Brock University
  • John I. Jenkins, President, University of Notre Dame
  • Sam Levey, associate dean of Arts and Sciences, Dartmouth College
  • Tiziana Lippiello, Rector, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia
  • Alice MacLachlan, Vice Provost and Dean of Grad Studies, York University
  • Dean Moyar, Vice Dean for the Humanities, Johns Hopkins University
  • Danielle Poe, Dean of College of Arts and Sciences, University of Dayton
  • Agustin Rayo, Dean of Arts and Humanities, MIT
  • James Sage, Associate Provost, Southern Utah University
  • Alfred B. Santos, Dean, School of Arts and Sciences, Holy Angel University
  • Debra Satz, Dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University
  • Andrew Schroeder, Associate Dean of the Faculty for Research, Claremont McKenna College
  • Brian J. Shanley, President, St. John’s University
  • Lisa Shapiro, Dean of Arts, McGill University
  • Eric Smaw, Special Assistant to the Provost for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Rollins College
  • Scott Tanona, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Kansas State University
  • Matthias Vorwerk, Provost, University of Dallas
  • Margaret Watkins, Dean of Arts and Sciences, Providence College
  • Daniel Weinstock, Associate Dean for Research, McGill University
  • Simon Wigley, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Bilkent University
  • Andrea Woody, Dean of Social Sciences, University of Washington
  • Frédéric Worms, Director, École Normale Supérieure

(The list will be updated periodically. If you notice an outdated or mistaken entry, please let us know.)

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Ian
Ian
2 months ago

Margaret Watkins is dean of Arts and Sciences at Providence College. https://philosophy.providence.edu/faculty-members/margaret-watkins/

Sam Levey is associate dean of Arts and Sciences at Dartmouth College. https://philosophy.dartmouth.edu/people/samuel-levey

thisisnotmyname
thisisnotmyname
2 months ago

Christa Acampora, Dean of Arts and Sciences, University of Virginia. https://as.virginia.edu/office-dean

Agustin Rayo, Dean of Arts and Humanities, MIT. https://shass.mit.edu/about/Dean-Rayo

thisisnotmyname
thisisnotmyname
2 months ago

Brie Gertler, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, University of Virginia. Vice Provost for Academic Affairs. https://provost.virginia.edu/staff/brie-gertler

Dean Zimmerman
Dean Zimmerman
2 months ago

Tamar Gendler, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Yale

Matt
Matt
2 months ago
Daniel Greco
2 months ago

Austin Rayo is a dean at mit: https://shass.mit.edu/about/Dean-Rayo

Grad Student
Grad Student
2 months ago

Peter Graham is Associate Dean of the University of California Education Abroad Program (University of California Riverside)

Previously, he was the associate dean of Student Academic Affairs for CHASS at UCR and then as associate dean for Arts and Humanities at UCR.

Samantha Brennan
Samantha Brennan
2 months ago

The Canadian list:
Alice MacLachlan, Vice Provost and Dean of Grad Studies, York
Tim Kenyon, Acting Provost, Brock
Samantha Brennan, Dean of Arts, Guelph
Lisa Shapiro, Dean of Arts, McGill
Shannon Dea, Dean of Arts, Regina
Frédéric Bouchard, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Université de Montréal.

Chris
Chris
Reply to  Samantha Brennan
2 months ago

and of course, Cheryl Misak was Provost at Toronto for several years…

Kate Norlock
Reply to  Samantha Brennan
2 months ago

Incomplete without Leo Groarke, President of Trent U these past five years! And now this Associate Dean Norlock has good buzz. 😉

Samantha Brennan
Samantha Brennan
Reply to  Kate Norlock
2 months ago

Sorry I missed you! And Daniel Weinstock. Also Andrew Bailey is Associate Dean Research and Grad Studies at Guelph. Then there’s Tracy Isaacs, Special Advisor to the Provost on Gender-Based and Sexual Violence, Western University.

Mathieu Doucet
Reply to  Samantha Brennan
2 months ago

Another Canadian to add is David DeVidi, Associate Vice President Academic, University of Waterloo

Tim Kenyon
Tim Kenyon
Reply to  Samantha Brennan
2 months ago

Thanks, Sam. Though I’m currently seconded as Interim Provost and VP Academic, my regular gig these last six years is VP Research.

Katalin Farkas
Katalin Farkas
2 months ago

Tim Crane, Pro-Rector, Central European University, Vienna. https://philosophy.ceu.edu/people/tim-crane

Bill
Bill
2 months ago

Simon Wigley, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Bilkent University, Ankara.

harvard
harvard
2 months ago

Sean Kelly is about to become Dean of Arts and Humanities at Harvard: https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/4/17/sean-kelly-arts-humanities-dean/

Nathan
Nathan
2 months ago

Scott Tanona is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Kansas State University.
https://artsci.k-state.edu/about/dean-office/dean-office.html

Patrick Lin
2 months ago

John Etchemendy was the provost for Stanford for 17 years, through 2017. By all accounts, as far as I can tell, he had done a great job and was super-influential:

https://news.stanford.edu/2017/01/24/provost-john-etchemendy-leaves-remarkable-legacy/

Dean Zimmerman
Dean Zimmerman
2 months ago

Lynn C. Pasquerella, President, American Association of Colleges and Universities

historian
historian
2 months ago

Saul Fisher is Associate Provost of Mercy University in New York.
Rufus Black, a philosophical theologian, is Vice-Chancellor of the University of Tasmania.

David
David
2 months ago

Lanier Anderson is Senior Associate Dean for the Humanities and Arts at Stanford. https://philosophy.stanford.edu/people/r-lanier-anderson

Steven Gross
Steven Gross
2 months ago

Dean Moyar, Vice Dean for the Humanities, Johns Hopkins

historian
historian
2 months ago

Frédéric Worms is director of the École normale supérieure.
Tiziana Lippiello, a sinologist who works on classical Chinese philosophy, is rector of the Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia.

jb manchak
2 months ago

Andrea Woody is Dean of the Social Sciences at the University of Washington.

Paul J
Paul J
2 months ago

Maria Cimitile is Provost and Senior VP for Academic Affairs at Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan.

Joshua Brown
Joshua Brown
2 months ago
PhilMath
PhilMath
2 months ago

A correction Justin: Sean Kelly is not the Dean of Arts & Sciences but the Dean of Arts and Humanities at Harvard.

Last edited 2 months ago by PhilMath
Kris
Kris
2 months ago

James Sage is Associate Provost at Southern Utah University
https://www.suu.edu/provost/people.html

Ian Olasov
2 months ago

Andy Cullison and Danielle Poe!

Aaron Garrett
Aaron Garrett
2 months ago

Ann Cudd is the President of Portland State.

Daniel Weinstock
Daniel Weinstock
2 months ago
SoCal
SoCal
2 months ago

Andrew Schroeder is associate dean of the faculty for research at Claremont McKenna College. https://www.cmc.edu/academic/faculty/profile/andrew-schroeder

Jonathan Cohen is associate dean of academic personnel at UCSD School of Arts and Humanities
William Bechtel is senior associate dean of academic personnel at UCSD School of Arts and Humanities

https://artsandhumanities.ucsd.edu/about/deans-office.html

Prof. Alfredo B. Santos, Ph.D
2 months ago

Prof. Alfredo B. Santos, Ph.D
Dean, School of Arts and Sciences
Holy Angel University
Angeles City, Philippines

David Wallace
David Wallace
2 months ago

Justin, is it also worth doing a ‘past appointment’ list, at least for people at the Provost/President level?

notme
notme
2 months ago

Sacha Golob, Vice-Dean, Arts & Humanities, King’s College London.

Matt L
2 months ago

Karen Detleftson is “Vice provost for education” at Penn:

https://philosophy.sas.upenn.edu/people/karen-detlefsen

Leonard Kahn
Leonard Kahn
2 months ago

Leonard Kahn is the Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Loyola University New Orleans.

Jeremy S.
Jeremy S.
2 months ago

Carl Still is President of St. Thomas More College in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: https://stmcollege.ca/contacts/carl-still.php

Mark Vopat
Mark Vopat
2 months ago

Michael Milde, Dean of Arts and Humanities at the University of Western Ontario

Mark Vopat
Mark Vopat
2 months ago

Alan Tomhave Assistant Dean, Youngstown State University

Fred D'Agostino
Fred D'Agostino
2 months ago

Fred D’Agostino was President of the Academic Board and, prior to that, Executive Dean of Arts at The University of Queensland. He was a member of the University Senate (Board of Trustees analogue).

Junior
Junior
2 months ago

Tong Shijun, Chancellor of NYU Shanghai.

CLHote
CLHote
2 months ago

Marjorie Hass is the president of the Council of Independent Colleges, having been a college president at two institutions.

CLHote
CLHote
2 months ago

Nate Bowditch is provost and VP at Plymouth State.

Benedict Chan
Benedict Chan
2 months ago

A list from Hong Kong:

Sungmoon KIM (Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, City University of Hong Kong)
https://scholars.cityu.edu.hk/en/persons/sungmoon-kim(10a18ccf-ef32-4a53-a8dc-f4d7a8b0b684).html

Alan K.L. CHAN (Provost of Chinese University of Hong Kong) https://www.phil.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/web/academic/chan-k-l-alan/
Jiji ZHANG (Associate Dean of Faculty of Arts, Chinese University of Hong Kong)https://www.phil.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/web/academic/zhang-jiji/

Benedict S. B. CHAN (Associate Dean of Faculty of Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University)
https://rel.hkbu.edu.hk/people/chan-shing-bun-benedict

Andrea SAUCHELLI (Associate Dean of Faculty of Arts, Lingnan University)
https://www.ln.edu.hk/philoso/?page_id=799

Rachel STERKEN (Associate Dean of Faculty of Arts, University of Hong Kong)
https://hub.hku.hk/cris/rp/rp02715

Grad Student #223
Grad Student #223
2 months ago

Derk Pereboom, College of Arts and Sciences Senior Associate Dean of Arts and Humanities at Cornell University

Michael Kremer
Michael Kremer
2 months ago

Anton Ford is Deputy Dean, Humanities Division, University of Chicago.

Dan Larkin
Dan Larkin
2 months ago

David Owen is Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at Georgia Southern University.

Matt Tedesco
2 months ago

Eric Boynton is president of Beloit College.

Saul Fisher
2 months ago

Sherri Irvin is Senior Associate Dean of the Graduate College of the University of Oklahoma.
https://www.ou.edu/gradcollege/about/contacts/sherri-irvin

Last edited 2 months ago by Saul Fisher
James Camien McGuiggan
James Camien McGuiggan
2 months ago

Alex Neill has or had some sort of admin role in Southampton. The website calls him “Vice-President (Education)” whatever that means as well as Professor of Philosophy. I seem to remember he was a Dean about ten years ago but don’t hold me to that!

Avram Hiller
Avram Hiller
2 months ago
Ben Hole
Ben Hole
2 months ago

Paul Haught is Associate Provost for Graduate Academic Affairs and Professional Education at University of Dayton

Amy S
Amy S
2 months ago

Marie-Eve Morin is Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Arts, at the University of Alberta, but we’d like her back, please . . .

Rockchalk
Rockchalk
2 months ago

Ben Eggleston is Senior Associate Dean, Humanities & Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Kansas!

Charles Bradley akol
Charles Bradley akol
2 months ago

Dr Anne Abaho is the dean school of social sciences at nkumba university uganda

a355
a355
2 months ago

John Corvino, Dean of the Honors College at Wayne State University.

https://clasprofiles.wayne.edu/profile/ae9123

jch
jch
2 months ago

Megan Mustain, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, Trinity University, San Antonio, TX

Mark
Mark
2 months ago

Jill Hernandez is Dean of the Honors College at Texas Tech.

Charles Pigden
Charles Pigden
2 months ago

Stuart Brock is Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic at the University of Otago

David Martens
David Martens
2 months ago

This thread opened with a remark about “the importance of philosophers in high-level administrative roles”, so perhaps it is not too far off topic now to mention that philosopher John Lamola is both (a) Associate Professor at the University of Johannesburg, and (b) CEO of South Africa’s national airline.

(a) https://iis.uj.ac.za/team-member/?smid=475

(b) https://www.flysaa.com/about-us/leading-carrier/about-saa/saa-leadership

Gary Chartier
2 months ago

Annette Bryson is now serving as Assistant Dean at John Cabot University.

Teresa Blankmeyer Burke
2 months ago

I’m in a midlevel position (Director, School of Arts and Humanities at Gallaudet University) and seeing these is really helpful – thanks for starting this discussion! One thing I am wondering is how other axes of representation show up here for philosophers who are admins – gender, race/ethnicity, disability, etc.

Adding Deb
Adding Deb
2 months ago

Deborah Tollefsen is, in addition to her faculty appointment, Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate School at the University of Memphis.
https://www.memphis.edu/philosophy/people/bios/deborah-tollefsen.php

Jeffrey Brand
2 months ago

Jeffrey Brand (formerly Brand-Ballard) is Associate Provost for Undergraduate Affairs and Special Programs at the George Washington University, Washington, DC

MPL
MPL
2 months ago

Ben Eggleston is Senior Associate Dean, Humanities & Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Kansas.

jch
jch
2 months ago

Lon Olson, PhD UTexas, Assistant Vice Provost for Program Accreditation and Assessment, Texas State University

Georgias Costanza
Georgias Costanza
2 months ago

Jonathan Sanford, president of the University of Dallas: https://udallas.edu/about-ud/leadership/presidents-office/index.php

Georgias Costanza
Georgias Costanza
2 months ago

Douglas Henry, Dean of the Honors College at Baylor University: https://honors.baylor.edu/person/douglas-henry-phd