Graduate school dean plans to step down

After nearly 13 years of service, Graduate School of Arts and Science dean Catharine Stimpson has announced she will step down from her position effective Aug. 31.

"Her distinctive voice, her broad intellectual contributions, her energetic championing of graduate inquiry and students and her charm and humor shall be missed," NYU President John Sexton and provost David McLaughlin wrote in a memo to administrators.

After a long term as dean, Stimpson decided after several months of consideration that it was time for her to move on from her current position — but not from NYU.

"I may be changing my title," Stimpson said, "but not my institution."

Stimpson will remain a part of the Arts and Science faculty; she will co-teach her "Law and Literature" course as she did throughout her deanship. She will also join the Steinhardt Institute for Higher Education Policy, where she hopes to establish a senior service corps to serve retired staff and faculty.

"I hope to explore the ways in which retired faculty can be helpful," Stimpson said.

According to Sexton and McLaughlin's e-mail, the search for a new permanent GSAS dean will not begin until NYU completes the search for a new dean of Faculty of Arts and Science, which they expect will happen this fall.

In the meantime, Malcolm N. "Mal" Semple, a professor for the Center for Neural Science and Psychology Department, will be named acting dean of GSAS on Sept. 1. He has served as vice dean of GSAS since the fall of 2007.

Describing the process as "utterly amicable," Stimpson quoted classic philosophy as an undertone of her decision.

"You should always be thinking about your life," she said. "Remember what Socrates said: 'The unexamined life is not worth living.' "