The Commentator

Issue date: 12/6/04 Section: News

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University administrators announced this week the stepping down of Yeshiva College (YC) dean, Dr. Norman Adler, at the conclusion of the academic year. Concomitantly, Dean Adler will be appointed a University Professor of Psychology at Yeshiva, a distinguished professorship allowing him to maintain a wide portfolio to plan and develop curricula and academic programs across all academic unites. He will also become a special assistant to Vice President for Academic Affairs, Morton Lowengrub, for research and academic computing initiatives. President Richard M. Joel will be calling for a nation-wide search to fill Dean Adler's position, which he will vacate officially at the end of August 2005.

Dean Adler came to Yeshiva in 1995 after completing a five year stint as the Associate Dean for the College, School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania and two years as a professor of Psychology at Northeastern University. His academic appointments are numerous, including Research Professor and Associate Professor at Drexel and the University of Pennsylvania.

During Dean Adler's tenure, Yeshiva, and YC in particular, underwent a number of instrumental changes that changed its academic caliber. The Schottenstein Honors program was established, The YC Book Project inaugurated, a top 50 ranking on the annual list of "America's Best Colleges," and a Rhodes and Goldwater scholars were all produced during Dean Adler's decade of achievement.

Though its source is somewhat unknown, University Professorships were in existence at other universities as early as 1935, and are usually awarded to distinguished individuals whose work crosses the boundaries of different disciplines. At Yeshiva, other University Professors include Dr. Haym Soloveitchik, University Professor of Jewish History and Literature at the Bernard Revel School of Graduate Studies, Dr. Victor W. Sidel, Distinguished University Professor of Social Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Prof. William Schwartz, University Professor of Law, at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Dean Adler's portfolio will allow him to develop broader agendas for the university, and especially work towards more integrated interdisciplinary studies among Yeshiva's schools.

"Dean Adler is extraordinarily creative, and I want to use all his creativity to enhance the educational opportunities for our students," said Dr. Lowengrub. "I think he's done some wonderful things in the past few years. In that way, he has transformed the level of education in Yeshiva College.

Dr. Lowengrub added that he hoped Dean Adler's appointment will "raise the level of the entire institution."

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