Jamshed Bharucha, professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences, has been selected by President James Wright to be the next Dean of Faculty. His promotion from Deputy Provost to Dean of Faculty becomes effective July 1.
As the Dean of Faculty, Bharucha will oversee 580 members of the Dartmouth faculty, including 355 tenure and tenure-track professors. He will work with the approximately 40 academics departments that make up the humanities, sciences, social sciences, interdisciplinary programs and graduate schools.
Bharucha stressed academic excellence and diversity of faculty as his main priorities.
"I am a faculty member first and foremost and look forward to engaging the faculty in discussion of their aspiration and concerns," Bharucha said.
"Under the rubric of academic excellence, I hope to attract the very best faculty, and to allow them to attain their fullest potential as teachers and researchers," Bharucha said.
"[My goal is to] provide a vibrant interdisciplinary environment where learning, discovery and creativity are encouraged," he continued.
In a press release announcing the appointment, College President James Wright said, "Jamshed has impressed us all with his commitment to the faculty and to the academic values of Dartmouth. The Dean of Faculty search committee advanced his name to me with great enthusiasm, which I certainly share."
Bharucha joined the Dartmouth faculty in 1983 as an Assistant Professor, became an Associate Professor in 1989 and a full Professor in 1995.
He was appointed Associate Dean of the Faculty for the Division of Social Sciences in 1997 and Deputy Provost in 2000. He is also a member of the Program in Linguistics and Cognitive Science and the Program in Electro-Acoustic Music.
After graduating from Vassar College, Bharucha received his master's degree in philosophy from Yale University and his Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard University.
Bharucha teaches Introductory Psychology, Cognition, and advanced seminars in musical perception. He is currently the John Wentworth Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences and has won the Dartmouth's Huntington Teaching Award.
Bharucha will replace Biology Professor Edward Berger, whose four year term as Dean of Faculty ends after the spring.
Bharucha expressed his thanks to Berger, whom he said he deeply respects.
Berger said he was "abstractly" related in the recent appointment of Bharucha because he appointed him to be the Associate Dean of Faculty for the Division of Social Sciences four year ago.
"I picked him first," Berger said of Bharucha, describing his successor as "brilliant."
"Bharucha is as close to the Renaissance man as I have discovered. [He is] a first class cognitive scientist and a concert level musician," said Berger.
"I did my time, I paid my dues, now it's time to go back to the good life," added Berger who plans to return to full-time teaching and research.
According to Berger, "[Bharucha's] real interest is in how the brain understands music."
Bharucha is well known for his research in this area and has published articles on the subject in The New York Times, US News and World Report, and Discover magazine. He has also been a commentator on National Public Radio for segments on music and the brain, and been the editor of a journal entitled Music Perception.
