Mathew Johnson will assume the roles of director of the Swearer Center for Public Service and associate dean for engaged scholarship Jan. 1, 2016, Dean of the College Maud Mandel announced in a campus-wide email Tuesday.

Johnson is currently director of the Office of Academic Community Engagement and associate professor of sociology and environmental studies at Siena College, his alma mater.

His appointment as the Swearer Center’s director comes a year after Roger Nozaki MAT ’89 resigned from the position to serve as a policy adviser at the U.S. Department of Education. Administrators had hoped to identify Nozaki’s long-term successor last spring so that person could begin July 1, Mandel told The Herald last September.

Kate Trimble has served as acting director since Nozaki left the position — temporarily at first — in May 2014 after nine years in the job.

The search committee made its final hiring decision Thursday, said Olivia Veira ’17, one of two undergraduates on the committee.

“He was clearly a strong leader with well-researched ideas about service and service learning,” Veira said. “He didn’t seem to shy away from having difficult conversations.”

Though Johnson’s work at the University will not officially commence until the turn of the calendar year, he plans to visit campus during the fall semester, Mandel wrote in the email.