I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Katharyne Mitchell as dean of the Social Sciences Division. She starts on Aug. 15.
Katharyne joins UC Santa Cruz from the University of Washington, where she was a professor of geography. She has spent the past year on a Guggenheim Fellowship, which she used to explore the nature of sanctuary and the role of faith-based movements in migration policy and human-rights discourse in Europe.
Her research is wide-reaching, covering transnational migration, refugees and asylum policy, immigrant integration, citizenship, and education. She earned a bachelor’s degree in art and archaeology from Princeton, and a master’s and a Ph.D. in geography from UC Berkeley.
As dean, she will be a vocal advocate for the Social Sciences and for the strengths of this campus: both undergraduate and graduate education, research, and interdisciplinary scholarship.
To learn more about Katharyne, please read our campus news office's announcement of her appointment.
Don Brenneis, professor of anthropology and former chair of the Academic Senate, will serve as interim Social Sciences dean from July 1 until Katharyne’s arrival. I appreciate Don taking on this leadership role.
Katharyne succeeds Sheldon Kamieniecki, who guided the division for 11 years. He led with distinction, bringing in extraordinary faculty and raising the campus profile with a new Ph.D. program in Latin American and Latino Studies, and a new master’s degree in Coastal Science and Policy, among many other accomplishments. We thank him for his service to campus and wish him well in his retirement.
I also want to thank members of the search committee for their service, including committee chair Tyler Stovall, Humanities dean, who oversaw the national search to fill this key academic leadership post.
