Weissman to Step Down As Provost, VP; Jacobsen to Serve as Interim

This summer, Ruth Weissman will be stepping down as provost and vice president for academic affairs and returning to her role as the Walter A. Crowell University Professor of the Social Sciences. Joyce Jacobsen, the Andrews Professor of Economics, dean of the Social Sciences and Director of Global Initiatives, has accepted a one-year appointment as interim provost and vice president for academic affairs.

“Ruth’s efforts over the past two years in support of the faculty, in overseeing the curriculum, and in exercising administrative leadership have been extraordinary,” said Wesleyan President Michael Roth in an all-campus e-mail. “Wesleyan has been fortunate indeed to have had her in this role.”

“Ruth has made so many meaningful gifts to Wesleyan since she took on the challenges of being provost, all the while trying to balance her university life in Middletown with her home life in Montana. I know I speak for many here when I express my gratitude to her for having made the efforts she did on behalf of the University,” Roth wrote.

Her next steps include research and writing a book about positive psychology, after which she will return to campus to teach.

Jacobsen, who received the Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 2007, came to Wesleyan in July 1993 as an assistant professor of economics. A scholar of the economics of gender and employment, she authored numerous journal articles, book chapters, reviews and essays.

She’s served as chair of the faculty, chair of EPC, chair of the Department of Economics, co-chair of the College of Social Studies, vice-chair of the Review and Appeals Board, and on the governing board of the Center for the Study of Public Life.

Jacobsen earned a A.B. in economics from Harvard/Radcliffe College; a M.Sc. in economics from the London School of Economics; and a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University. This semester, she is teaching ECON 385, Econometrics. Read a WesConnect article on her experiences as a student and a professor here.

“In her work as Dean, [Jacobsen] has proved herself a talented and accomplished administrator,” Roth wrote. “I look forward to working more closely with her. After consultation with Joyce and the faculty, I will have more to say in the fall about longer-term plans for Academic Affairs.”