David Zheng, Senior Photographer

In an email to Berkeley College students Thursday afternoon, Dean Brianne Bilsky announced that she would step down from her post after six years in the role.

Bilsky, who is a lecturer in the English department, is resigning to begin as the associate provost for academic affairs at the U.S. Naval Academy. She was appointed in 2018 to replace outgoing Dean Renita Miller. 

“Change is rarely easy,” Bilsky wrote in an email to Berkeley students. “However, it is a natural part of life, and sometimes the right opportunity simply comes along at the right time. I believe that is the case now, but I know that was the case in 2018 when I was selected to be the Dean of Berkeley.”

Bilsky received her bachelor’s degree in English from Washington & Jefferson College and her English doctorate from Stanford University. 

She also was an assistant professor of English at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York. In her email, Bilsky wrote that she is “excited” that the next step in her career will once again contribute to the “nation’s future military leaders.”

“This is in a way a homecoming for Brianne, since she worked at the U.S. Military Academy before she came to Yale,” Dean of Yale College Pericles Lewis wrote to the Yale College staff. “Although this is bittersweet news for the Berkeley community, which has benefited so much from Brianne’s leadership and service, this move is a wonderful opportunity for her.”

In her email, Bilsky also wrote that it was an “honor” to work in Berkeley College, and said that the residential colleges are “special places” that not only impact students, but those who work in them as well. She ended by thanking Berkeley College staff, including Head of College David Evans and Berkeley facilities and dining hall staff.

In his own message to the Berkeley community, Evans wrote that he “thoroughly enjoyed” working with Bilsky through college administrative tasks, and that Bilsky has taught him a lot through those experiences. 

“The Residential College Dean job is uniquely challenging in that one must provide compassion but also occasionally the kind of straight-talk advice that we all need from time to time,” Evans wrote. “Dean B has navigated this balance as well as anyone I know.” 

Evans added that he will soon begin the process of nominating students and college fellows to the search committee for the next Berkeley dean. The search will join the ongoing committees for Timothy Dwight College’s Head of College and Jonathan Edwards College’s dean. 

Hannah Nashed ’26, co-president of the Berkeley College Council, wrote to the News that Bilsky served as a “hub of knowledge” for Berkeley students as she helped them navigate class conflicts, housing crises and uncertainties of the future. 

“To me, she was always somewhat of an intimidating figure: composed, convicted, and confident,” Nashed wrote. “She exuded very calm energy and always handled everything with a kind of precision and decisiveness that could only be admired.” 

Berkeley College is located at 205 Elm St.