Dear Colleagues:

It is my deep pleasure to announce Susan Foster as our new associate dean of administration. Susan is currently the executive director of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University, one of the largest departments in the Faculty of Arts & Sciences. Previously she was the founding executive director of the Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS) at Harvard, where she was responsible for its start-up activities and organizational plan, and played a key role in its faculty recruitment. During her Harvard career, she served as the administrative lead of Harvard’s Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, the Harvard Film Archive, and the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies. In 2012 she received the Harvard Hero Award for her service to the university, and in particular for her contributions and ability to create a diverse workplace. An innovator in higher-education administration, known for her expertise in organizational modeling, strategic planning, and faculty and staff development, Susan has been a progressive leader in higher education for more than 30 years. She has a personal commitment to creating intelligent and collaborative research communities that promote diversity and growth.

Susan’s commitment to public health began early in her career, first as a founding member of the administration of the then-new Friedman School of Nutrition at Tufts University, where she played an instrumental role in the development of the school’s graduate programs. She served there as assistant dean for student services until 1992. Susan later joined the Harvard School of Public Health, first as the administrative director of the Department of Epidemiology, then later also included the Department of Maternal and Child Health.

Susan is a native Bostonian, and has lived and worked in Greater Boston her entire life. She is, to quote her directly “an avid gardener who also loves to cook, travel, and spoil her children and family.”

Susan’s background, interests, and experience make her in so many ways a perfect fit for our School. I would like to thank all who participated in the search for our new associate dean of administration and in particular the Search Advisory Committee, led ably by Dean Harold Cox and including professors Les Boden and Josee Dupuis and Deans Suzette Levenson and Mark Prashker.

Susan has a number of things to wind down at Harvard before she starts at SPH, and will be joining us on December 14.

Please join me in welcoming Dean Foster to our community.

Warmly,

Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH
Dean, Professor
Twitter: @sandrogalea

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