Rice University names first dean of undergraduates

CONTACT: B.J. Almond
PHONE: (713) 348-6770
E-MAIL: balmond@rice.edu

RICE UNIVERSITY NAMES FIRST DEAN OF UNDERGRADUATES
New dean to be responsible for bringing together
all aspects of undergraduate experience

Robin Forman, professor and chair of the mathematics department and master of Jones [residential] College, has been named Rice University’s first dean of undergraduates, effective immediately, Rice President David Leebron and Provost Eugene Levy announced.

The new dean will be responsible for bringing together all aspects of the undergraduate experience, from academics and advising, to career services, to extracurricular and social activities. The dean will report to and work closely with the president and provost, serving as an advocate for undergraduates.

"Robin provides precisely what we had in mind in creating the new dean’s position," President Leebron said. "He brings an exceptional combination of experience, and talent, and an understanding of Rice, student life and the values of an academic community. At the same time, he is an innovator. Add to this his understanding of people and sense of humor and you have an ideal person to shape the new dean’s role."

In creating the new position, the president and provost specified that it would be filled with a tenured Rice faculty member. Forman was chosen after a months-long internal search conducted by a committee chaired by Allen Matusow, W. G. Twyman Professor of History and associate director of academic programs for the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy.

"The committee was fortunate to have several strong candidates," Matusow said. "Robin’s particular strengths were the wide support his candidacy enjoyed in the university community, his deep knowledge of the college system, his innovative leadership as a college master and his excellence as a scholar. I believe he will be a great dean of undergraduates."

Forman said he would give up his positions as chair of the mathematics department and master of Jones College but not all of his faculty roles.

"I expect this deanship to be particularly challenging this semester because we’ll be putting a new position into place," he said. "But I will remain a mathematician and will continue to lead a research group in the math department and advise my graduate students. After we get things organized, I will teach one class a semester as well."

Forman said the precise set of offices that will report to the dean’s office will evolve as the vision for the position comes into being.

"The idea is to stop thinking of academic activities and college-life activities as existing in different spheres, but rather to think of college life in a more holistic way," he said.

Forman said that he looks forward to working with the students across campus.

"Rice gets phenomenal students — creative, talented, smart and ambitious," Forman said. "One of the thrills of being on the faculty at Rice is that you’re dealing with students of so much potential."

Forman, who is a native of Philadelphia, holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. from Harvard. He first came to Rice as a visiting faculty member in 1986 and began teaching full-time in 1987 as an assistant professor of mathematics.

Forman’s research is in the area of combinatorial methods in topology and geometry, focusing on the relationship between continuous mathematics, such as calculus and topology, and discrete mathematics of the sort that computers do. He has published numerous articles and book chapters and given presentations and invited addresses on his research.