Current Dean of Arts and Sciences—Dorothy Hodgson—announced her intent to step down from the position in June 2023, according to an email sent to community members by Carol Fierke, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. Hodgson will not be renewing her appointment after her fifth year.
“An award-winning scholar, teacher, and mentor, [Hodgson] has been dedicated to Brandeis’ vision of an inclusive undergraduate liberal arts education—one that integrates the creative arts, humanities, social sciences, and sciences to provide students with the knowledge, passion, creativity, compassion, and resilience to succeed and to use their gifts to improve the world,” reads the email.
Hodgson has been with the university since 2018, in her four years at Brandeis Hodgson has helped design and launch multiple initiatives. Including the Office for Undergraduate Research and Creative Collaboration, a major in Engineering Science and a suite of meaningful anti-racism plans by the School of Arts and Sciences and its departments and programs, according to the email. While in this position Hodgson has been able to meet the demand made during Ford Hall 2015 to increase the number of faculty of color. Under Hodgson the university’s School of Arts and Sciences has seen a double in the number of faculty of color, according to Fierke’s email.
Also, during her time as Dean, Hodgson has worked to help create, “the Program in Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies; the implementation of the Brandeis Core; the transition of Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies from a program to a department; and the creation of the Community Engaged Scholars Program (CESP) to be launched in Fall 2022, in collaboration with the Vic and Bobbi Samuels ’63 Center for Community Partnerships and Civic Transformation, funded by a $10 million gift,” according to the email sent by Fierke.
Hodgson will remain with the university through the 2022-2023 academic year, during which she will work on the transition out of the position, according to Fireke’s email. The university will begin a national search for the next permanent Dean of Arts and Sciences, during the next academic year. More information will be released to community members as there is progress in the nomination process for a new dean, according to Fierke’s email.
