Valerie Smith Named Dean of the College at Princeton University

Valerie Smith, the Woodrow Wilson Professor of Literature and professor of English and African-American studies at Princeton University, was named dean of the college. As dean she will be the senior officer in charge of undergraduate academic programs. She will assume her new duties on July 1.

Professor Smith is a graduate of Bates College and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. She served on the faculty at Princeton from 1980 to 1989 before spending 11 years on the faculty at UCLA. She returned to Princeton in 2001 and was appointed director of the African-American studies program in 2002. She is the author of three books including the forthcoming Toni Morrison: Writing the Moral Imagination.

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