Jonathan Farina Named Dean, College of Arts and Sciences

The Office of the Provost is pleased to announce Jonathan Farina, Ph.D., Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, has been appointed to serve as the college’s permanent Dean. His appointment marks the conclusion of a competitive national search that yielded a host of exceptionally strong candidates.

Dean Farina is a tenured Professor in our Department of English who is known for his dynamic teaching, and who has published a monograph with Cambridge University Press and numerous peer-reviewed articles. A member of the University community since 2009, he has served in multiple faculty and administrative roles and has been the Interim Dean for the College of Arts and Sciences for the last two years.

In making the announcement, Erik Lillquist, J.D., Deputy Provost, Chief Administrative Officer and Executive Vice President, said, "In this capacity, he has surely and steadily advanced the College by focusing on student research opportunities, student recruitment, faculty hiring and promotion, curriculum development, alumni relations and fundraising, student outcomes and strategic innovations."

Dean Farina's accomplishments as Interim Dean include:

• development of a B.A. in Law and Philosophy;
• development of a B.S. in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience;
• development of five-year B.S./M.S. dual-degrees in Biological Sciences, Chemistry, and Physics and Engineering;
• driving investments, renovations and expansions in cybersecurity and computer science;
• establishing the STEM Undergraduate Research Award, with 41 student participants and external funding from the State of New Jersey;
• substantially increasing fundraising in the College;
• revitalizing the A&S Dean's Advisory Council;
• establishing the Arts and Science Catholic Mission Speaker Series;
• facilitating the hiring of more than 32 full-time faculty members;
• substantially increasing graduate TA stipends for the first time in 30 years;
• and as member of a special team in the Office of the Provost, helping reverse declining graduate enrollments with a multilevel strategy.

Dean Farina has cultivated strong relationships with administrators, priests and faculty members across the University. In 2021-22, he served as special advisor to the Provost for strategy implementation. The following year, he took on new duties as Interim Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education and Assessment. These posts included responsibility for Middle States reaccreditation, strategic plan implementation, graduate enrollment and academic innovation and strategy.

In addition, he worked closely with Student Services in co-directing the University's committee on diversity, equity and inclusion for three years. Dean Farina served as executive secretary of the Faculty Senate for two years beginning in 2015-16, before being re-elected three successive years to Chair the Faculty Senate.

As the permanent Dean, he will focus his considerable energies on:

• synchronizing Arts and Sciences initiatives with the University's forthcoming strategic plan;
• enhancing and integrating the liberal arts and sciences across the University;
• continuing to drive curriculum development and new initiatives to foster student success for undergraduate and graduate students;
• encouraging enhanced opportunities exploring our Catholic mission for our students, faculty and administrators;
• increasing graduate enrollments;
• improving yields and distributing majors more evenly across the College to improve the sustainability of each program;
• and continuing to improve fundraising and alumni engagement with a focus on gifts to endow faculty, student opportunities and programs.

Dean Farina earned his bachelor's degree in Management Science with a concentration in Finance and a major in English from Boston College, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from New York University.

"Having worked with Jonathan in his various roles over the past decade, I am delighted to make this announcement, knowing the Arts and Sciences community and our broader University will continue to benefit from his intellect, creativity, energy and dedication," Lillquist concluded.

Categories: Arts and Culture