May 19, 2022

Dear Members of the Connecticut College Community,

I am delighted to announce that Danielle Egan will be the next Dean of the Faculty at Connecticut College, effective July 1, 2022.
 
Danielle joined Connecticut College in 2017 as the Fuller-Matthai Professor and Chair of Gender, Sexuality, and Intersectionality Studies. She received a B.A. in Sociology and Women’s Studies from Goucher College, a Ph.D. in Sociology from Boston College, and a Psya.D. in Clinical Psychoanalysis from the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis. From 2000 to 2017, she was on the faculty of St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, where she served as Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies and directed the Center for Teaching and Learning.  

Danielle’s research focuses on social constructions of sexuality. She is the author of three books. The most recent, Becoming Sexual (Polity 2013), deals with the sexualization of children and was named book of the week by the Times Higher Education supplement. As a teacher, Danielle is known for her engaged pedagogy. As a faculty leader, she has been committed to equity and to consensus. During her five years at Conn, she has done notable work not only as Chair of her department but also as Chair of the Faculty Steering and Conference Committee and, more recently, as a Faculty Fellow in the Center for Teaching and Learning and co-organizer of Talking Teaching. These skills and experiences will serve her well as Dean of the Faculty.

Danielle succeeds Jeffrey Cole, who will step down on June 30 and whose tenure, marked by the challenges of a global pandemic, enabled the appointment of 40 exceptional faculty across 23 departments. We are grateful to him and to Anne Bernhard, Associate Dean of the Faculty and Professor of Biology, who is also stepping down on June 30, for their significant service over the past four years, and we wish them success on their well-earned sabbaticals.

I want to thank the Dean of the Faculty search committee for leading an excellent process: David Dorfman, Professor of Dance; Cherise Harris, Associate Professor of Sociology and co-Director of the Center for the Critical Study of Race and Ethnicity; Chad Jones, Associate Professor of Botany and Environmental Studies; Eileen Kane, Associate Professor of History and Director of Global Islamic Studies; and Lina Wilder, Professor and Chair of English. I also want to thank Lauren Middleton, Secretary of the College, for ably assisting the committee, as well as the many faculty and staff whose thoughtful participation and feedback led to this outcome.

I hope you will join me in welcoming Danielle into her new role.

Yours,
 
Katherine Bergeron
President