Announcing Juli Wade as Incoming Executive Dean of SAS

April 25, 2023

Dear Rutgers University­–New Brunswick Community,

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Juli Wade as Executive Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences (SAS), a role she will assume on July 1, 2023.

Dr. Wade currently serves the University of Connecticut as Dean for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences—UConn’s largest and most academically diverse college, with 10,000 undergraduate and 1,600 graduate students, 24 departments, and a school of public policy. She previously worked at Michigan State University for nearly 25 years, including as Associate Provost for Faculty and Academic Staff Development and as Chair of the Department of Psychology.

She brings to Rutgers a clear understanding of the important role that public, land-grant, research-intensive institutions serve for their home communities, states, and the nation; and she brings to SAS a grounded experience in advancing student success, interdisciplinary scholarship, and equity and inclusion.

At the University of Connecticut, which she joined in July 2019, Dr. Wade led the creation of a strategic plan, informed by diverse input from across the college, that set forth a cohesive vision and goals with significant parallels to our Rutgers–New Brunswick Academic Master Plan. She revamped the college’s faculty and staff awards to recognize success in areas of priority, and worked to build a faculty-driven model for success.

As Michigan State University’s Associate Provost for Faculty and Academic Staff Development, Dr. Wade worked to advance careers at the university through inclusive, collaborative, and experiential learning. She coordinated the university’s leadership development work, aiming to elevate future leaders and enhance the performance of current leaders. She joined the MSU faculty in 1995 as an assistant professor in psychology, held an appointment in integrative biology, and was also a member of an interdepartmental doctoral program in neuroscience. She became a full professor in 2004. Her scholarly research, funded by the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation, focused on understanding the hormonal and genetic factors that regulate brain structure and behavior. This highly collaborative work focused on generating resources and knowledge for scholarly communities—and parallels our Chancellor-Provost Challenge goal to advance interdisciplinary scholarship to serve the common good.

Dr. Wade succeeds Drs. Susan Lawrence and James Masschaele, who have led SAS since July 1, 2022, as Interim Co-Executive Deans. Their outstanding leadership has greatly supported the success of our students and academic community.

Please join me in welcoming Executive Dean Wade, thanking Interim Co-Executive Deans Lawrence and Masschaele for their distinguished service, and expressing gratitude to the SAS Dean search committee, which was chaired by School of Engineering Dean Alberto Cuitiño and School of Environmental and Biological Sciences Executive Dean Laura Lawson.

Sincerely,

Francine Conway, Ph.D.
Chancellor-Provost, Rutgers University–New Brunswick