CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Sarah C. Mangelsdorf, the acting dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been named dean of the college, pending approval of the U. of I. Board of Trustees at its Jan. 19 meeting in Chicago.
"As interim dean Sarah Mangelsdorf has administered the college with considerable wisdom, all the while bringing along the college strategic plan and contributing notably to the broad campus effort," said Chancellor Richard H. Herman.
"She has the considerable endorsement of the faculty and the college executive committee. I am most pleased to be bringing her name to the board and believe that she will build on all that has been accomplished over recent years," he said.
"As an associate provost, she guided policy and priorities concerning undergraduate education across the campus," Herman said. "As the head of psychology, she led one of our most eminent departments and largest undergraduate and graduate programs. As a professor, she has received her college's highest award for teaching. She has demonstrated a deep understanding of the breadth of campus, the needs of disciplines from the sciences to the social sciences and the humanities, and the importance of excellence in teaching and research."
Mangelsdorf was named acting dean in September 2004, succeeding Jesse G. Delia, who had served for 10 years.
Delia was appointed acting provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs on the Urbana campus, filling the position left by Herman, who was named interim chancellor in June 2004. Herman was named chancellor in April 2005.
Mangelsdorf earned her bachelor's degree in psychology in 1980 from Oberlin College in Ohio and her doctorate in 1988 in child psychology from the University of Minnesota.
She joined the Illinois psychology department faculty in 1991, after teaching at the University of Michigan for four years.
She studies social and emotional development in infancy and early childhood and is the author of numerous articles in developmental psychology. She also has served on the editorial boards of five academic journals.
Mangelsdorf has been honored several times for her teaching, winning, for example, the William Prokasy Teaching Award in 1998, the highest award for teaching in LAS. She also has appeared consistently on the campus list of excellent teachers.
Mangelsdorf previously served as associate head of the department of psychology from 2000-2001, associate provost for the campus from 2001-2003 and head of the department of psychology from 2003-2004.