Title: Georgetown Appoints New Interim Dean For Its Graduate School
Georgetown has appointed William Rebeck, a neuroscience professor accustomed to an interdisciplinary approach to graduate study, as its new interim dean for the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Georgetown has appointed neuroscience professor William Rebeck as the new interim dean for the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, effective July 1.
Rebeck, an accomplished researcher whose work focuses on understanding thegenetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease, is no stranger to interdisciplinary graduate work across the campuses. He’s been a part of Georgetown’s faculty for 10 years.
Interdisciplinary Insights
For the past four years, he has directed the Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience (IPN), which includes more than 50 faculty members from departments across the Medical Center and Main campuses who train about 50 Ph.D. students.
The IPN beganmatriculating students in the fall of 1994 and is ranked 14th out of 94 graduate programs in neuroscience in the country in the recent National Research Councilrankings.
“I am grateful to Bill [Rebeck] for his willingness to serve as interim dean for the coming year as we begin the shift to the new organization of the graduate school,” Provost Robert Groves said in an announcement to the university community. “I am confident that his experience and insights into interdisciplinary graduate education will be valuable assets in our next steps forward.”
Rebeck’s appointment comes after the previous interim dean, Gerald Mara, retired this past spring after more than 30 years of service at Georgetown.
Prior to Mara’s term as dean, he had taught in the government department and served as executive associate dean of the graduate school since 1996.
Moving Forward
The search for a permanent dean will take shape in coming weeks as Georgetown President John J. DeGioia forms a committee to conduct a national search for a new dean, Groves said.
“The search for the permanent dean … will likely take several months,” he added. “In the meantime, we don’t want to wait on implementing innovations that found broad support among faculty and students.”
Performance metrics for the master’s and Ph.D. programs, assessments of graduate fellowships and research services are among the projects on which the graduate school will continue to focus.
“Dean Rebeck and the wonderful career staff of the Graduate School will be plenty busy over the coming year,” Groves said.