Peg Barratt, dean of the George Washington University Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, has announced her intention to step down as dean and assume her faculty position in the Department of Psychology effective June 30, 2013. A nationwide search for her successor will begin in fall 2012.
“Peg Barratt has worked with great skill and dedication to build her school’s capacities, engage its alumni, develop its partnerships, and recruit ever stronger faculty and students," said President Steven Knapp. “She has been a tireless and eloquent advocate for the school that is not only our largest and most complex school but bears the university's original name: Columbian College.”
Dean Barratt has led Columbian College through significant efforts to improve the experiences of students and faculty. Most notably, Dean Barratt has overseen the creation and introduction of a new general education liberal arts curriculum to emphasize development of skills essential to effectiveness in the 21st century, including critical thinking, creative thinking and scientific reasoning, as well as oral and written communication.
Dean Barratt also oversaw the doubling of undergraduate professional advisers and enhanced undergraduate student research opportunities by doubling the number of Luther Rice Undergraduate Research Fellowships, including one that she funds personally. She has increased support for master’s and doctoral students and overseen an expansion of master’s programs and enrollments.
At the same time, Dean Barratt has managed creation of more than 30 new faculty positions. Honors awarded to Columbian College faculty during her tenure have included Guggenheim fellowships, elections to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award. The school’s faculty have published more than 100 books in the last two years alone.
She also has played a key role in planning for the forthcoming Science and Engineering Hall and the George Washington University Museum. In addition, she has led the university’s arts initiative, aimed at enhancing research and educational experiences by better utilizing the unsurpassed cultural opportunities offered by our location in the nation’s capital.
“It has been my great honor to serve as dean of the Columbian College and to work with the outstanding students and faculty of the George Washington University. I look forward to working this next year to ensure an orderly transition as the needs for the next dean are identified and a national search process is launched,” said Dean Barratt.
During her final year, Dean Barratt will focus on globalization and plans for Science and Engineering Hall and the George Washington University Museum. Her leadership of the arts initiative will include strengthening partnerships with D.C. arts institutions, including the Duke Ellington High School for the Arts, the Phillips Collection and the Textile Museum.