Board of trustees selects new faculty, discusses new deans

The University Board of Trustees appointed four professors to the senior faculty with tenure Saturday.

Novelist Chang-Rae Lee is the second prominent writer to join the University's ranks this weekend.

Eddie Glaude GS '95, a former student of Cornel West GS '80, was appointed to the religion department and will teach in the African-American studies program.

In addition, President Tilghman updated the trustees on the searches for architecture, engineering, graduate and Wilson school deans, said Thomas Wright '62, vice president and secretary.

Though no deans were appointed during the weekend, Wright said he anticipated several posts would be filled in the near future.

"[The dean searches] are all likely to lead to a conclusion in the next few weeks or months," Provost Amy Gutmann said.

The board granted Tilghman the authority to name new deans before the next board meeting in June, Wright said.

Sources close to the search committee said it is likely that an architecture school dean will be appointed within a week or two.

The appointment of a new Wilson school dean may take more time, another source said.

Lee will join the council of the humanities and program in creative writing, where he was a fellow in the fall.

He joins a program that already boasts several notable writers, including Paul Muldoon, Toni Morrison and Joyce Carol Oates.

"One of the reasons I came to teach the course [in the fall] was the people I always followed and admired and to get to know them," he said.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

His first book "Native Speaker" won several awards, including the American Book Award. His second novel, "A Gesture Life," also received praise.

"[Lee] adds another intellectual voice we don't have on campus," Provost Amy Gutmann said. "And we worked equally hard to get him."

Lee said he would continue to teach creative writing courses but also anticipated cross-cultural and ethnic autobiography courses that would be cross-listed in other departments, such as East Asian studies.

He is currently an English professor and director of the master's program at Hunter College of the City of New York.

"I have usually taught in graduate programs, but this was one of the best undergraduate programs in the country," Lee said.

Glaude, who is currently an associate professor of religion and Africana studies at Bowdoin College, said he looks forward to joining the faculty.

"I am very excited about my appointment to the faculty at Princeton University," he said in a statement. "I am convinced that something really special is happening at the institution and I look forward to being part of it."

Glaude is the author of "Exodus! Religion, Race, and Nation in Early 19th Century Black America," which was a finalist for the Society of Historians of the Early Republic first book prize.

In addition to appointing Lee and Glaude, the trustees added two new professors to the math department. Andrei Okounkov and Rahul Pandharipande join as full professors and specialize in representation theory and geometry, respectively.

Six faculty members were granted tenure and five new professors will join the University as assistant professors.

There is also a search on to replace health services director Pamela Bowen.