Dean Newman named provost at UMass, Amherst

President Ronald J. Daniels announced last week in an email to the Hopkins community that Dean Katherine Newman, the James B. Knapp Dean of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences (KSAS), has been appointed the next provost and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

“Since her arrival at Johns Hopkins in 2010, Dean Newman has brought us innovative ideas, boundless energy and unflagging faith in the potential of the Krieger School,” Daniels wrote.

During her tenure at Hopkins, Newman evoked many positive developments within the community. Daniels elaborated on the extent of Newman’s service to the school.

“Katherine spearheaded the development of a strategic plan, steeped in external benchmarking and frank self-assessment,” Daniels wrote. “She has expanded the Arts and Sciences faculty and improved faculty support through enhanced research leave and programs such as the Academy at Johns Hopkins, which broadens opportunities for emeriti professors to remain engaged and connected with the university.”

Among these accomplishments, Newman also developed the University’s relationship with Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), oversaw the grand opening of the Undergraduate Teaching Laboratories, supported innovative teaching practices through the Gateway Sciences Initiative (GSI) and facilitated greater opportunities for independent student research and study through the Dean’s Undergraduate Research Awards.

“She has bolstered graduate education and enhanced the humanities,” Daniels wrote. “A leader in advancing cross-disciplinary collaboration at our university, she has invested considerable time and effort in the launch of the Bloomberg Distinguished Professorships initiative and the new Institute for the American City.”

Before Newman steps down from her current role at the end of June, she plans to complete many of the items left on her “to do” list, such as reforming the graduate student stipend program, hiring plans for the upcoming academic year and working with donors.

“All of this is feasible only because of the devoted service of the vice deans and deanery staff, to whom I offer a special shout out,” Newman wrote in an email to the University.

In addition to Newman’s more sweeping contributions to the University, she also sought to foster relationships on a personal level by promoting student-faculty interaction. Over the course of her four years at Hopkins, Newman opened up her home to members of the community on a regular basis and hosted over 100 dinners.

“These welcoming meals ... provided a new forum for students and faculty to come together and engage in important conversations around critical issues, the quintessence of what it means to be part of a probing academic community,” Daniels wrote.

Students from all years and disciplines enjoyed these dinners and discussions, according to several students.

“Dean Newman did a remarkable job of engaging the students and professors in a dynamic conversation,” sophomore Mary Egan said. “The talks we had were open-ended as people drew from personal, academic and career experiences in a more candid setting than class discussion.”

Junior Meera Valliath agreed, emphasizing Newman’s generous hospitality.

“Dean Newman’s dinners were a great way to meet students and faculty I had never met before,” Valliath said. “She always made an effort to make everyone feel like an important member of the community. What’s more, she and her husband were so welcoming and open with their beautiful home and even insisted that we take home leftover food in little Tupperware containers.”

A California native, Newman majored in sociology and philosophy at the University of California, San Diego and earned a doctorate in anthropology from the University of California, Berkley. She explained that her experiences with the University of California system led her to deeply value public higher education.

“For me, [joining UMass] represents a return to my roots in public higher education,” Newman wrote. “I would not have had the opportunities I have been fortunate to claim were it not for the start I was given by the citizens of my home state.”

Her great esteem for public higher education drew her to UMass.

“In thinking about where I might make a useful contribution in the next phase of my career, I concluded this was the right path,” Newman wrote.

Newman will head education, research and scholarship endeavors throughout UMass in her new position as the university’s chief academic officer. She will assume these responsibilities on Aug. 1.

“Although I have only been at Johns Hopkins for four years, it has been a privilege to serve such a talented faculty, student body and staff,” Newman wrote. “Together we have worked hard to improve every aspect of what we do, and the consequences are clear all around us.”

In his email, Daniels wrote that details regarding Newman’s replacement would be forthcoming.

“Provost Lieberman and I will consult with Krieger School and University leadership and faculty and expect to announce soon the appointment of an interim dean,” he wrote. “We also will work expeditiously to launch a search for the next dean of the Krieger School.”