Get to know the vice deans and dean’s fellows who are working to shape curriculum, policy, and more in Arts & Sciences.
Since Dean Feng Sheng Hu took the helm of Arts & Sciences last year, he has bolstered the school’s administrative efforts by appointing a number of distinguished faculty members to new or expanded leadership roles. A particular priority for Dean Hu has been to increase the faculty presence in the Dean’s Office and build broader representation of the various areas of the school. Dean Hu noted that “as Washington University’s largest and most academically diverse school, Arts & Sciences requires a range of talents to meet our complex administrative needs. I am grateful to have a skilled, dedicated, and forward-looking senior leadership team to help ensure the ongoing success of our procedures and programs.”
Vice Deans
Andrew Brown
Vice Dean of Faculty Affairs
In this new role, Andrew Brown, professor of Spanish and of comparative literature, serves as a key partner for academic units in matters related to the appointment, recruitment, and retention of faculty, as well as other issues impacting the success of faculty and academic units. Brown helps department chairs and faculty members navigate hiring, mentorship, career advancement, and promotion opportunities. He also has an active role in policy issues such as sabbatical, leave, and fellowship reviews.
Sophia Hayes
Interim Vice Dean of Graduate Education
Sophia Hayes works to support, strengthen, and promote graduate studies within Arts & Sciences. In response to the broader, provost-led reorganization of graduate education at Washington University, over the course of the next academic year she will envision and build the new Office of Graduate Studies and will oversee all aspects of graduate education in Arts & Sciences. Hayes is a professor of chemistry, and graduate student training has been a key focus of her research program.
Erin McGlothlin
Vice Dean of Undergraduate Affairs
Erin McGlothlin leads the College of Arts & Sciences as vice dean of undergraduate affairs. In this role, McGlothlin is responsible for the university’s liberal arts curriculum, which serves all Washington University undergraduates. She holds responsibility for the strategic oversight of undergraduate curriculum planning, pedagogy, course development, program evaluation, new educational initiatives, and four-year advising program. She is a professor of German and Jewish studies.
Adia Harvey Wingfield
Vice Dean of Faculty Development and Diversity
In May, Adia Harvey Wingfield’s leadership portfolio expanded to include diversity and inclusion initiatives. Wingfield is the Mary Tileston Hemenway Professor of Arts & Sciences and professor of sociology. Previously, as vice dean of faculty development, she oversaw new chair and faculty orientations and ran faculty development workshops throughout the year. Now, in addition to those efforts, she helps recruit faculty from underrepresented backgrounds and support them in the early to mid-level stages of their careers.
William Tolman
Vice Dean of Research and Entrepreneurship
In this new position, William Tolman will support faculty in the translation, commercialization, and public dissemination of research, scholarship, and creative practice. Tolman will also continue efforts aimed at growing the research enterprise of Arts & Sciences, which he pursued in his previous role as associate dean of research. Tolman is the William Greenleaf Eliot Professor of Chemistry.
Dean’s Fellows
William Acree
Dean’s Fellow for Graduate Education Initiatives
This fall, William Acree, professor of romance languages and literatures, assumes a two-year appointment as dean’s fellow for graduate education initiatives. In this role, he will assist Sophia Hayes, interim vice dean of graduate education, in establishing the new Office of Graduate Studies. He will also focus on a range of special initiatives to improve graduate education, including facilitating transdisciplinary education, creating more inclusive learning environments, and enhancing support for multiple career outcomes.
Clarissa Rile Hayward
Dean’s Fellow for Policies in Arts & Sciences
Over the next two years, Clarissa Rile Hayward will review, create, and advise on faculty policies – in particular, those related to faculty promotion and tenure. Her work in this area will help ensure that faculty in Arts & Sciences receive clear, consistent, and equitable guidance. Hayward is a professor of political science whose scholarship examines contemporary political theory and questions central to understanding and evaluating political life.
Ignacio Sánchez Prado
Dean’s Fellow for Intercultural Competence Initiatives
In this two-year appointment, Ignacio Sánchez Prado will help develop initiatives aimed at building a cross-cultural community in Arts & Sciences and bringing intercultural understanding into classrooms and other university programming. In doing so, Arts & Sciences will better prepare students to develop insights and relationships, positively impact their communities, and thrive in the diverse workplaces of the 21st century. Sánchez Prado is the Jarvis Thurston and Mona Van Duyn Professor in the Humanities.
Abram Van Engen
Dean’s Fellow for Educational Innovations and Initiatives
In this two-year appointment, Abram Van Engen will work to strengthen existing interdisciplinary programs and envision new joint programs across disciplines and schools. The work entails both the promotion of ongoing efforts, such as interdisciplinary courses and the Beyond Boundaries program, and charting a path for future opportunities in which students would combine areas of study and approach complex issues from multiple angles. As a professor of English, Van Engen has published widely on religion and literature.
