New Leadership in Arts and Sciences

In February 2023, Fordham University launched a project to enhance the leadership structure of Arts and Sciences at Fordham. Its goal was to identify a model of leadership that will foster a vibrant intellectual environment and improve efficiency, coordination, and transparency, as well as ensure Arts and Sciences has a clear vision and comprehensive strategy. Over the 2023-24 academic year, the Provost's Office consulted with faculty, students and administrators across Arts and Sciences, including with the FCRH Council, FCLC Council, GSAS Council, A&S Council, and Faculty Senate. Fordham’s Board of Trustees approved the new leadership structure in April 2024.

New Structure

In the new structure, a single Dean will be responsible for leading all of Arts and Sciences and will simultaneously serve as the dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center, the dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill, and the dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

The Dean of Arts & Sciences will oversee all academic departments in A&S and be supported by the following senior leadership team:

  • Vice Dean for Undergraduate Education with day-to-day responsibility for ensuring Fordham delivers a transformative learning experience across the liberal arts. Senior associate deans of FCRH and FCLC will provide day-to-day support for students and programs on each campus, respectively.
  • Vice Dean for Graduate Education, providing day-to-day leadership of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
  • Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs, responsible for supporting, nurturing, and overseeing the professional advancement of all faculty within A&S
  • Executive Director of Finance and Administration to manage teams that are led by a Senior Director for Finance and Budget and the Director of Communications and Events, who will provide support to the dean and all of the vice deans. 

Together, the senior team will lead a reinvigorated A&S organization to advance the promise of Fordham’s mission more fully: delivering a transformative liberal arts education to undergraduates on both the Lincoln Center and Rose Hill campuses, advancing a set of excellent and distinctive graduate programs, cultivating an extraordinary liberal arts faculty, and promoting path breaking faculty-led research.

 

Proposed Arts and Sciences Org Chart

Next Steps

Three key steps will occur during the 2024-25 academic year:

  1. Fordham will conduct a national search to identify the inaugural Dean of Arts and Sciences. The search will be led by a committee composed largely of A&S faculty, and it will consider both internal and external candidates.
  2. The Provost’s Office will appoint an implementation planning committee, composed largely of A&S faculty, that will review and refine the needed structure in support of each member of the senior leadership team reporting to the Dean. The committee will also recommend how we can facilitate a smooth transition to the new structure in fall 2025.
  3. The University Statutes will be amended to align the Statutes with the new leadership structure. The compilation of edits to the Statutes will be reviewed and voted upon by the Faculty Senate before being transmitted to the Board of Trustees for its approval.

The current leadership structure and staffing will remain in place through summer 2025. We anticipate the senior leadership team that supports the inaugural dean would be named soon after the new dean is announced in spring 2025. Shortly thereafter, each senior team member will work to assemble their teams as quickly as is practical for the 2025/26 academic year.