EVANSTON, Ill. --- Sarah C. Mangelsdorf, the Harry E. Preble Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been appointed dean of the Northwestern University Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, effective Aug. 16, it was announced today (May 12) by Provost Daniel Linzer.

"President Bienen and I are extremely pleased that Sarah has accepted our offer of the deanship," Linzer said. "She brings to Northwestern an outstanding record of successful scholarship and academic leadership. She possesses a strong passion for the liberal arts and sciences and a sense of excitement about the potential for extraordinary accomplishments in Weinberg College."

"It is a tremendous honor to have been selected as the next Dean of the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern," Mangelsdorf said. "I look forward to working with Provost Linzer and with the faculty, students and alumni of Weinberg College."

Mangelsdorf, professor of psychology, has been dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Illinois since 2004, the first woman to hold that position. She joined the University of Illinois psychology department in 1991 and served as associate provost from 2001-03 and head of the department of psychology from 2003-04. She previously served four years as an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Michigan.

Mangelsdorf's scholarship focuses on social and emotional development in infancy and early childhood and she is the author of numerous articles in developmental psychology. At Illinois, she has been honored several times for her teaching -- winning the Mabel Hohenboken Teaching award in 1997 and the William Prokasy Teaching Award in 1998, the college's highest award for teaching. She has served on the editorial boards of five academic journals and currently serves on the editorial boards of "Child Development" and "Infant Behavior and Development."

Mangelsdorf earned her bachelor's degree in psychology in 1980 from Oberlin College in Ohio and her doctorate in 1988 in child psychology from the University of Minnesota.

Linzer said, "President Bienen and I are indebted to the Weinberg College dean search committee for its diligent work in screening potential candidates and identifying those with the greatest potential for success at Weinberg College. We are also extremely grateful to Leon Forrest Professor of Sociology Aldon Morris, who postponed his scheduled leave last fall to serve so ably as interim dean of Weinberg."