Last fall, Boston University launched a national search for a new dean of the College of Arts & Sciences (CAS). The University sought candidates who would bring a record of distinguished scholarship, innovative academic and administrative leadership, and a strong commitment to liberal arts and sciences education to the task of further advancing CAS as the curricular and intellectual hub of Boston University. On behalf of President Robert A. Brown, Jean Morrison, university provost and chief academic officer, has announced the appointment of Dr. Ann E. Cudd as Dean of the Boston University College of Arts & Sciences.
Dr. Cudd is the vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Studies and University Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Kansas (KU). Appointed as the founding vice provost and dean in 2013, Dr. Cudd has led efforts to enrich undergraduate education through academic support services, initiatives to improve undergraduate teaching and learning, and has overseen the general education program for all undergraduate students. Dr. Cudd previously served as associate dean for humanities in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Kansas from 2008 to 2013, where she oversaw the faculty, staff, and undergraduate and graduate degree programs for 14 academic units. A political philosopher whose research centers on the explanation and mitigation of oppression, Dr. Cudd is an accomplished scholar and teacher who has published five books, over 50 articles, and made numerous research presentations nationally and internationally. Dr. Cudd has won several awards for her teaching, including the W.T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence, KU’s highest honor. She received her PhD in philosophy, as well as MA degrees in economics and philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh, and she earned her BA in Mathematics and Philosophy from Swarthmore College. It is notable that her degrees represent all three divisions of the College of Arts & Sciences – humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences – a signal that reflects Dr. Cudd’s personal commitment to the liberal arts and sciences and to her strong belief in the efficacy of interdisciplinarity.
Among her many accomplishments as a university and faculty leader at Kansas, Dr. Cudd collaboratively developed the new KU Core university-wide general education curriculum, co-founded the Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities, developed and implemented a mentoring program for associate professors in Arts and Sciences, and served as the director of the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program from 2001-2008, which resulted in significant expansion of the program and its renaming as a Department. Dr. Cudd is a recognized leader in her discipline, currently serving as Executive Director of the American Section of the International Society for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy and as the developer and co-director of an annual mentoring workshop for untenured women faculty in Philosophy through the American Philosophical Association. Through extensive conversations with her about the significant new efforts that she has led at Kansas – a fellow member of the American Association of Universities (AAU) – as well as the opportunities and challenges that we face at BU, it is evident that Dr. Cudd has the scholarly credentials, record of educational leadership, ability to work across diverse disciplines, attention to diversity and inclusion, and skill for articulating clear strategies for advancing academic excellence that we established as an ideal mix of talents for our next dean of CAS.
Dr. Cudd will begin as dean on August 1, 2015.
We also express gratitude to Dean Virginia Sapiro, who has served with distinction as dean of the College of Arts & Sciences since 2007. Dean Sapiro will step down from her leadership role this summer to return to her scholarship and teaching.
Learn more about Dean Cudd and her vision for CAS here.