College

Interim Dean Named

Olmsted

A cell biologist who has been on the Rochester faculty since 1975 is leading the College of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering while a campus committee conducts a nationwide search to succeed former dean Tom LeBlanc.

Joanna Olmsted, a professor of biology and dean of faculty development in the College, was appointed interim dean of the faculty, effective July 1.

Provost Charles E. Phelps announced Olmsted’s new role and named the committee last spring following LeBlanc’s appointment as executive vice president and provost at the University of Miami.

The search committee is chaired by Elissa Newport, George Eastman Professor and chair of brain and cognitive sciences. Its members include Loisa Bennetto, assistant professor of psychology, Robert Boeckman Jr., Marshall D. Gates Jr. Professor and chair of chemistry, Gerald Gamm, associate professor of political science and history and chair of political science, Wendi Heinzelman, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, Emil Homerin, professor of religion, Wayne Knox, professor of optics and director of the Institute of Optics, Henry Kyburg Jr., Gideon W. Burbank Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy, Jeffrey Runner, associate professor of linguistics, Paul Tipton, professor of physics, Jeffrey Tucker, associate professor of English, and Richard Waugh, professor and chair of biomedical engineering.

Olmsted received her bachelor’s degree in biology from Earlham College and her doctoral degree in biology from Yale University in 1971. Joining Rochester in 1975 as an assistant professor of biology, she was promoted to associate professor in 1981 and to professor in 1987. She was appointed associate dean of faculty in 1995, and in 1998 became dean of faculty development, handling matters relating to the recruitment and review of College faculty.