Yale Daily News
Dean of Humanities Amy Hungerford and Dean of Social Science Alan Gerber were reappointed to their respective positions for another five-year term, effective July 1, according to two April 10 press releases from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
In both of the announcements, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Tamar Gendler expressed pride in her two colleagues’ tenures at Yale; in addition to overseeing the recruitment and promotion of faculty in their respective divisions, Hungerford chairs the University Humanities Strategy Committee, while Gerber chairs the University-Wide Committee on Data-Intensive Social Science.
In the press releases, Gendler said that working alongside Gerber has been “a pleasure and a privilege” and praised Hungerford’s “wise counsel.”
Hungerford, who is also a professor of English, first assumed her position in 2016 when her position as Divisional Director was converted into a deanship. Since then, she has published a book titled “Making Literature Now” as well as the ninth edition of “The Norton Anthology of American Literature.”
In her upcoming term, Hungerford said that she looks forward to guiding the division through the move to its new home at 320 York — the former Hall of Graduate Studies — where renovations are expected to finish in late 2020. The division is set to become a hub for the humanities and host several humanities departments as well as the Whitney Humanities Center.
“The division’s normal work of searching, recruitment and promotion will go forward with sustained momentum as we continue to build areas of study that need strengthening and move through generational changes in the division, with a number of retirements expected over the next five years,” she said.
Gerber, whose position was converted from divisional director to dean the same year as Hungerford, will continue his research on political communications during his upcoming five-year reappointment. As the chair of the University-Wide Committee on Data-Intensive Social Science, he will also work to increase available opportunities in data science across Yale.
By expanding data science, Gerber said that he hopes to ensure all faculty members in his division are able to benefit from the field’s advancement.
“The most important decisions about the future come from faculty,” he added. “My role is to help the faculty achieve their goals in research, teaching and service.”
According to Gendler’s press release, Gerber played a pivotal role in the development of popular course “YData: An Introduction to Data Science” and in changing the Department of Statistics to the Department of Statistics and Data Science. In addition to his deanship, Gerber is a professor of political science, economics, statistics and data science within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and of health policy and management at the Yale School of Public Health.
Gerber has published one book — “Unhealthy Politics: The Battle Over Evidence-Based Medicine” — as well as over 20 papers since his appointment to the FAS, according to the press release.
“He is tireless in dedication to social science both within and beyond the university, and unmatched in his ability not only to identify areas where Yale can learn from the example of other institutions, but to bring those opportunities from ideas to actualities,” Gendler said.
Gendler became the inaugural dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 2014.
Matt Kristoffersen | matt.kristoffersen@yale.edu