Grad school names interim dean

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences has an interim dean: Carlos J. Alonso, Morris A. and Alma Schapiro Professor in the Humanities.

Executive Vice President for the Arts and Sciences Nicholas Dirks announced in an email Tuesday that Alonso would assume the position Sept. 1.

Alonso chaired the department of Latin American and Iberian studies. He specializes in 19th- and 20th- century Latin American intellectual history, as well as contemporary literary and cultural theory. Columbia recruited him from the University of Pennsylvania.

“Over the past five years he has spearheaded a renewal of the department, restoring it to its proper place among the top three departments in the nation,” Dirks wrote.

Dirks also pointed to Alonso’s work with Columbia committees—he has worked with the Academic Review Committee, the Faculty Budget Group, the Committee of the Chairs, and the Executive Committee of GSAS, all of which, Dirks said, “have prepared him well to guide the Graduate School during a time of transition.”

Alonso was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and went on to earn his BA from Cornell and Ph.D. from Yale. He is also the current editor of the Revista Hispanica Moderna publication, which is published by the Hispanic Institute at Columbia.