Interim provost David Kotz ’86 announced today that Dean of the College Rebecca Biron will be stepping down from her position and returning to full-time teaching and research at the end of the academic year, according to a College press release.
Biron, who was hired in 2006 as a professor of Spanish and comparative literature, has served as Dean of the College for three years. In this role, she was responsible for overseeing student academic and co-curricular life and helped implement the house communities system. She also co-chaired both the Enrollment Task Force, which investigated the possibility of increasing the size of the student body but recommended against the increase earlier this month, and the Inclusive Excellence Initiative’s student working group, which studied existing data on diversity and inclusion initiatives for the student body. Biron also provided strategic input for admissions and financial aid policies and served as the College’s representative to the Consortium on Financing Higher Education.
Kotz will appoint an interim Dean of the College this spring whose tenure will begin in the summer term. In an email to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences announcing Biron’s departure, Kotz wrote that he will likely reach out to the campus community with more information on the process early in the spring term.
Biron noted in the press release that she was proud of the work her team accomplished during her tenure and that she was excited to resume teaching.
Biron’s return to teaching follows a similar move by former provost Carolyn Dever, who stepped down from the provost position at the end of last fall to resume teaching English.