Leadership

I am an anthropologist and higher education leader. I support faculty, guide institutions through strategic change, and build educational systems that prepare students for equity-minded futures informed by the liberal arts. Anthropology shapes how I lead: I draw on its methods and its knowledge of different ways of being, past and present, to help people think creatively and collaboratively about institutions as human communities. I care about processes that enable good work; cultures of trust, respect, and belonging; and practices of interdisciplinarity. My leadership centers equity, access, and power, including who gets to speak in a given setting, and I act to counter silencing within systems.

In addition to serving as Dean of Faculty at Olin College of Engineering, I have led across Olin since its early years, often through peer nomination or appointment by senior leadership. That work has included founding programs and committees, chairing faculty governance and redesigning the faculty development system, selecting senior leaders, strengthening organizational culture and trust, co-creating a racial justice study group for employees, and advancing the integration of the humanities and STEM (including convening groups on AI’s impact on teaching and learning).

Beyond Olin, I have held leadership roles in anthropology and engineering education, including Secretary of the American Ethnological Society, Treasurer of the American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies, executive board member of the Society for the Anthropology of Work, chair of national prize committees, and advisor to international engineering education initiatives. I have also completed formal leadership training, including the HERS Leadership Institute, the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Strategic Leadership Program, Bridgewater State University’s Racial Equity and Justice Institute, the American Anthropological Association’s Department Leaders Summer Institute, and Scrum Master certification. Topics ranged from equity-minded leadership and communicating change to budgeting, legal issues, and national trends in higher education.

Because Olin has no departments, the Dean of Faculty role includes many responsibilities that department chairs usually hold. At its core, the role meant launching and empowering teams to translate new institutional directions into on-the-ground action, which depends on building trust across faculty, staff, and leadership. It also meant supporting faculty in creating transformative educational experiences focused on engineering, access, and equity, and building systems that sustain both interdisciplinary and deep disciplinary work. Throughout, I communicated clearly with students, faculty, staff, and leadership. Key responsibilities included:

Strategy and institutional leadership

Served on the Academic Life Leadership Team (ALLT: Provost, Deans, Associate Deans). Coordinated across Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Admission, and External Partnerships, and helped reset post-pandemic culture around a new strategic and cultural vision. My focus was identifying directions and making decisions, leading initiatives that supported other team members, and building bridges and trust.

Partnered with the Provost on initiatives and faculty-led curricular change advancing Olin’s 2022 Strategic Plan.
Co-led the College Council with the VP of Finance and Administration and an HR associate director to improve communication across College leadership.
Served on the DEI Champions “Employee Experience” sub-team, supporting Olin’s equity-and-access vision.

Faculty hiring, development, and evaluation

Supervised nearly 60 direct reports, including full-time faculty (39), adjuncts, visitors, and library, shop, and lab staff.
Set hiring priorities with the Provost and oversaw searches. Hired 7 long-term-track faculty and about 12 visiting or adjunct faculty.
Built onboarding and mentoring programs with HR, including welcome processes for adjunct and visiting faculty.
Provided developmental support through classroom visits, mentoring, peer learning, and help with grant and fellowship applications.
Conducted annual reviews and partnered with Institutional Research to improve teaching-evaluation data.
Guided candidates through reappointment and promotion, corresponded with external evaluators, and made recommendations to the President.

Faculty governance and community

Set agendas for and led biweekly faculty meetings, bi-annual retreats, and (with the Provost) all-employee Academic Life meetings.
Oversaw governance committees: Appointments and Search, Reappointment and Promotion, and the Academic Recommendation Board.
Matched faculty to service roles based on their goals and the College’s needs, and co-created a “Faculty Partners” program that placed faculty in staff areas such as admission and advising.
Provided mediation and conflict resolution among faculty, staff, and students.

Budget, policy, and operations

Worked with the Provost and ALLT on budget, staffing, and space. This included work on equity-based faculty salaries, faculty search, summer and research funding, and sabbaticals.
Developed teaching-load policy (with the Provost) and approved teaching assignments and schedules.
Worked with HR on leave, hiring, onboarding, and compliance.

Board, advancement, and communications

Represented faculty interests to the Board of Trustees, particularly its Academic Life Committee.
Generated strategic fundraising ideas with advancement staff and promoted faculty success with the Office of Strategic Communications.

External and community representation

Represented Olin to visiting teams, families, and alums. This included delivering the formal welcome at Orientation and reading graduate names at Commencement.
Co-led fall Convocation and the Summer Book Program with the Dean of Student Affairs.
Represented Olin, with President Gilda Barabino, in the EDGE Consortium, a group of higher ed women presidents and deans working to make semiconductor education more accessible (related to the CHIPS and Science Act).