New deans took the reins at three BU schools this year. Sandro Galea, an internationally respected physician and epidemiologist known for his research linking health to social disadvantages such as poverty and lack of education, is dean of the School of Public Health. Natalie McKnight, who for the past year has served as interim dean of BU’s College of General Studies, has now assumed the top job. And Christopher Moore, a Veterans Affairs official overseeing research into servicemen and servicewomen’s common afflictions, is the new dean of Sargent College.

Benjamín Juárez has announced he will leave his post as dean of the College of Fine Arts, when his five-year appointment concludes at the end of the 2014–2015 academic year.

School of Public Health

Galea, previously the Anna Cheskis Gelman and Murray Charles Gelman Professor and chair of the department of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, assumed the BU post on January 1, 2015. He says he has long admired the BU faculty, the school, and the leadership of Robert Meenan (MED’72, GSM’89), who announced in 2013 that he would step down after 21 years as dean.

Galea, who was named one of Time magazine’s epidemiology innovators in 2006, trained as a primary care physician at the University of Toronto and practiced in rural communities in Canada and Somalia. He then returned to academia and earned a master’s degree in public health at Harvard and a DrPH at Columbia.

“These are tremendously exciting times in public health,” Galea says. “A great school of public health has the responsibility to produce the scholarship that informs public health action and educates students and leadership for the coming decades. I am thrilled to be part of the community that embraces this responsibility.”

College of General Studies

Natalie McKnight, an expert on Victorian fiction and a noted scholar of Charles Dickens, wants to enhance the reputation of CGS. Photo by Frank Curran

McKnight, a member of the CGS faculty since 1990, has held several key leadership positions within the college. She was chair of the humanities division from 1997 to 2011 and associate dean for faculty research and development from 2011 to 2013, as well as director of the CGS Center for Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning.

“We want to continue spreading the word about the excellent undergraduate education and experience we offer,” she says. “I find that even within BU, there are still a lot of people who don’t have a clear sense of the nature of the college, so we need to continue to educate our colleagues.”

An expert on Victorian fiction and a noted scholar of Charles Dickens, McKnight is the author of several books, including Idiots, Madmen, and Other Prisoners in Dickens and Suffering Mothers in Mid-Victorian Novels, and coauthor and editor of Fathers in Victorian Literature. She is also the current coeditor of Dickens Studies Annual and archivist of the Dickens Quarterly.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in English and drama from Washington College, a master’s degree in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University, and a PhD in English and American literature from the University of Delaware.

Sargent College

Christopher Moore was an academic researcher for decades before entering government service. Photo by Jill Arden Bocchichio

Moore succeeded Kathleen Morgan, who had been interim dean. Morgan, chair of Sargent’s health science department, headed the college after former dean Gloria Waters was named BU’s vice president and associate provost for research.

Previously, Moore was the scientific program manager for the VA’s Sensory Systems and Communications Disorders Program, which researches the diagnosis and treatment of numerous medical problems, including tinnitus, balance disorders, visual and multisensory impairment, blast-related hearing loss, and speech and language disorders.

“Working with the Sargent College team presents an incredible opportunity for someone devoted to contributing broadly to education in health and rehabilitation,” says Moore. “All of the essential elements are already in place at Sargent: stellar clinical programs, internationally recognized researchers, and strong administrative structure and support devoted to some of the best students in their disciplines.”

Before his government service, Moore was a professor at the University of Washington, Seattle, doing federally supported research into children’s speech motor control development for two decades. He chaired that university’s speech and hearing sciences department. His research into speech physiology received funding from the National Institutes of Health for more than a quarter of a century. He spent four years as a scientific review officer at the NIH’s Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders before moving to the VA.

Moore earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, San Diego, and a master’s and a PhD from Purdue.

College of Fine Arts

Benjamín Juárez came to BU in 2010 after stints as director of several large research and arts institutions in his native Mexico. Photo by Vernon Doucette

In a memo to CFA faculty and staff in October, Juárez wrote that he is grateful for the opportunity to be part of a “dynamic artistic and academic community.” Juárez came to BU in spring 2010 after stints as director of several large research and arts institutions in his native Mexico, including as general director of Centro Nacional de las Artes, Mexico’s national arts center.

“Dean Juárez has served with distinction since his appointment in 2010,” University Provost Jean Morrison wrote in an October 2 email to
BU faculty and staff. “Under his leadership, CFA’s stature has grown as a nationally regarded institution of artistic study, with the recruitment and retention of celebrated scholars and artists.” She cited the dean’s many initiatives, adding that “the result has been continual improvement in the undergraduate education and experience CFA provides, as well as the launch of exciting new minors and concentrations, and the freshening of curricula at the program level.”

Lynne Allen, director of CFA’s School of Visual Arts, will serve as dean ad interim during the search for Juárez’s permanent replacement.