Andrew Campbell, associate professor of medical science, has been appointed as the next dean of the Graduate School, wrote Provost Richard Locke P’17 in a community-wide email Monday. Campbell will begin his term July 1, succeeding current Dean of the Graduate School Peter Weber.
“I chose to accept the position of dean of the Graduate School because I truly enjoy working with graduate students,” Campbell wrote in an email to The Herald. “This position will allow me to work with graduate students in all disciplines and to support their scholarly works. Getting a graduate degree is a choice that I made for myself, and I want to support those who are making that choice.”
In his role as dean, Campbell will have “primary responsibility for all aspects of the Graduate School,” Locke wrote. The Graduate School currently has more than 2,000 students pursuing both master’s and doctoral degrees across “41 different departments, centers and institutes,” he wrote.
Weber was appointed dean of the Graduate School in 2010, Locke wrote in a Jan. 13 email announcing the end of Weber’s term.
While dean, Weber oversaw a 17 percent growth in the graduate school population, advocated increases in doctoral financial aid, implemented the Presidential Fellows Program and “created a mechanism for advancing student funding in the humanities and social sciences,” among other initiatives, Locke added in the same email.
Campbell will be responsible for developing and implementing a “strategic agenda for the Graduate School,” Locke wrote.
“Crafting a good strategic agenda involves engaging everyone with a stake in the work,” Campbell wrote. “For me it’s going to be important to engage the graduate student community to hear their concerns and reach consensus before finalizing any agenda.”
As part of this, Campbell emphasized that a graduate school must prepare its students for careers and lives both in and outside of academia.
Campbell will also “provide financial oversight and planning, oversee graduate student admission and funding and lead and manage the Graduate School staff,” Locke wrote.
Campbell came to the University as an assistant professor in 1994 and, in the 20 years since, has served as director of the pathobiology program and Marine Biological Laboratory graduate program, according to a University press release.
Before coming to Brown, Campbell earned his PhD from the University of California at Los Angeles and his Bachelor of Science from York College, according to his webpage.
Campbell “is currently principal investigator of three training-related federal (National Institutes of Health) grants and has led with great success the NIH-funded Initiative to Maximize Student Development Program,” Locke wrote.
The initiative aims to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups completing PhDs in biomedical fields, according to the initiative’s website.
Campbell has received numerous awards, including the National Science Foundation’s CAREER Award, the Brown University School of Medicine Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award and the Brown University Presidential Award for Excellence in Faculty Governance, according to his curriculum vitae.
The dean of the Graduate school reports to the provost and is also a “member of the University’s senior academic leadership team and the President’s Cabinet,” Locke wrote.
“I look forward to working with him as he applies his considerable talents to advancing graduate education at Brown,” Locke wrote.