FAS Dean To Take Leave

Diana Sorensen, the divisional dean for the arts and humanities in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, will leave Harvard at the end of the academic year to take a year-long sabbatical.

Sorensen plans to use the time to work on a book, before returning to her teaching duties in the fall of 2011.

Sorensen, who unexpectedly found herself at the frontlines of FAS as it navigated through an unprecedented financial crisis, has served as the divisional dean since 2006, when she first assumed the position as a temporary replacement for departing dean and current Chair of the Committee on Degrees in Folklore and Mythology Maria Tatar.

At the conclusion of her year-long acting deanship, Sorensen was appointed the dean of arts and humanities in July 2007. Following that two-year appointment, she agreed to serve for an additional year in the role, though she had planned on returning to full-time teaching and research in 2009, Sorensen wrote in an e-mailed statement.

In a January e-mail to the Faculty announcing Sorensen’s imminent departure, FAS Dean Michael D. Smith praised her leadership and asked for help in searching for a replacement—which he plans to announce in June.

“She has been a tireless advocate for the Division and has exhibited extraordinary leadership,” Smith wrote in an e-mailed statement to the Crimson. Smith declined to comment on the specifics of the search process.

During her tenure as divisional dean, Sorensen—also the Rothenberg professor of Romance Languages and Literature and of Comparative Literature—has weathered the worst financial crisis in decades, while simultaneously commanding the respect of her colleagues and maintaining the strength of the arts and humanities. Earlier this spring, the division garnered two new English professors from Columbia despite steep reductions in the number of searches authorized by the central administration at Harvard.

“She has been a committed and powerful advocate for arts and humanities faculty, students, departments, and programs even—and perhaps especially—as the reality of the financial situation took root,” wrote Heather Lantz, the assistant dean for arts and humanities, in an e-mailed statement.

Marjorie Garber, chair of the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies, described Sorensen as a “very excellent dean” and praised her ability to oversee the diverse set of departments and committees within the humanities division.

Colleagues commented on Sorensen’s stable and efficient work ethic.

“It’s tempered and appropriate,” FAS Divisional Dean of the Social Sciences Stephen M. Kosslyn said. “She makes decisions and follows through.”

Sorensen, a scholar of Latin American literature and culture, has been at Harvard since 2001. She previously taught at Columbia and served as the dean of the arts and humanities at Wesleyan University.

The author of four books related to Latin American literature, Sorensen has demonstrated a strong commitment to the humanities. She served on the Committee for General Education as it sought to formulate plans for the set of Gen Ed requirements and has also been associated with the Committee on Degrees in Folklore and Mythology, the Standing Committee on Ethnic Studies, and the Task Force on the Arts.

—Staff writer Noah S. Rayman can be reached at nrayman@fas.harvard.edu.

—James K. Mcauley and Elyssa A.L. Spitzer contributed to the reporting of this story