Sanders appointed dean of graduate and postdoctoral studies

Sanders appointed dean of graduate and postdoctoral studies

BY B.J. ALMOND
Rice News Staff   
 
Starting Aug. 1, Associate Professor of History Paula Sanders will be dean of graduate and postdoctoral studies – a new position created to strengthen Rice’s graduate and doctoral programs.

SANDERS

Responsibility for these programs had previously been assigned to the vice provost for research and graduate studies, but Provost Eugene Levy reorganized the office to achieve the Vision for the Second Century goal of strengthening the university’s graduate and postdoctoral programs.

“Paula will work with departments, deans and other university leaders to help develop university-wide policies that advance graduate education, including recruitment, retention, mentoring, placement and periodic program review,” Levy said. “Paula’s experience as director of graduate studies in the History Department, her academic collaborations with other departments and her efforts to promote diversity are excellent preparation for focusing on these important aspects of Rice’s graduate programs.”

Developing opportunities to teach

Sanders said one of her priorities would be to help develop opportunities for graduate students to get teaching experience at Rice.

“I’ll be working to expand our teaching assistant workshop program and to implement university-wide training and mentorship for graduate student teachers,” she said.

Sanders is also committed to fostering a collaborative and cross-disciplinary intellectual community of faculty, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

“I am particularly interested in encouraging interdisciplinary programs that will allow our students to be competitive for positions in both traditional departments and in new institutional programs that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries,” she said.

Her experience building collaborative networks with faculty, administrators, staff and students should prove advantageous to realizing this goal. She co-chaired the Rice Women’s Conference, involving undergraduates, graduate students, alumni, staff and community members. Working with the Digital Media Center, IT, Connexions, the Computer and Information Technology Institute, Fondren Library, graduate students and faculty, she co-directed Travelers in the Middle East Archive (TIMEA). The digital archive provides an online research and study collection of free searchable, textual and visual material, plus a variety of research modules designed to introduce students to study of the Middle East.

Nuturing a diverse community

Sanders hopes to find ways to expand diversity and to encourage programs that draw intellectual and professional strength from an increasingly diverse community. “I have been a vocal advocate for equity in all respects at the university,” she said.

As a member of the Faculty Council, Sanders spearheaded the effort to add sexual orientation to Rice’s nondiscrimination statement. She was also a core member of the ad hoc committee to provide same-sex domestic partner benefits at Rice. She has chaired the university’s Affirmative Action Committee and served on President David Leebron’s Committee on Women.

Sanders said her new role would be easier because of the legacy left by Jordan Konisky, who retired as vice provost for research and graduate studies, and Susan Lurie, associate dean for graduate studies.

“They established some wonderful programs, and I feel very lucky to be able to build on the strong foundations that they laid, especially in the areas of graduate teaching and diversity,” said Sanders. “I also feel lucky to have the support of really great and very experienced staff in the current office of research and graduate studies.”

That office is undergoing transition to accommodate Sanders’ new position and the new vice provost for research, Jim Coleman, who will join the faculty in September.

In her new role, Sanders will oversee the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, serve on the Deans’ Council and report to the provost.

She will manage graduate student admission and enrollment, oversee fellowship funding from internal and external sources for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and develop campus-wide teaching assistant training.

Her many other responsibilities include helping organize periodic reviews of graduate programs, advising graduate students on issues related to candidacy, working with the dean of undergraduates to manage career services and student activities for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and working with the vice president for administration to address graduate student housing issues.

At the national level, Sanders will promote Rice’s graduate programs to external audiences and help ensure that Rice’s policies and programs support graduate education goals.

Continuing her own work

Because the dean of graduate and postdoctoral studies is a halftime position, Sanders will be able to continue her research on medieval history of the Islamic world, including a translation of an 11th century Arabic chronicle with a historical introduction and commentary. She has a book coming out in November, “Creating Medieval Cairo: Empire, Religion and Architectural Preservation in 19th Century Egypt,” and in the spring, she and Professor Emeritus Werner Kelber will co-host an international conference on orality and literacy sponsored by the Boniuk Center for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance. She will also continue working on TIMEA.

Before coming to Rice, Sanders taught at Harvard University as an assistant professor of history. She joined the Rice faculty in 1987 as an assistant professor of history. She was promoted to associate professor in 1992. From 1997 to 2000 she directed the Program for the Study of Women and Gender, now the Center for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality.

She has served on the history department’s graduate committee almost every year since coming to Rice, and for five years she was director of graduate studies for the department. As director, she helped to institute the department’s pedagogy seminar, organized job placement activities, including mock interviews, and helped secure funding for research requests submitted by the department’s graduate students.

Sanders has a bachelor’s degree in history from Northwestern University and a master’s degree and a doctorate in history, both from Princeton University.

She has been the scholar-in-residence at the American Research Center in Egypt and an invited professor at the