Stanford College on Thursday named enterprise college dean Jonathan Levin its new president, seven months after its former high chief resigned amid allegations of analysis misconduct.
Levin, a 51-year-old economist and Stanford alumnus who has led the enterprise college for eight years, will take the helm on the Palo Alto campus Aug. 1.
He replaces Richard Saller, a professor of European research who turned interim president after Marc Tessier-Lavigne resigned in August amid analysis misconduct accusations.
Levin will lead the college, one of many nation’s top-rated and wealthiest with a $36-billion endowment, at a turbulent time in greater schooling.
Nationwide, enrollment is declining, prices proceed to skyrocket and plenty of are questioning the worth of a high-priced faculty diploma. Private and non-private universities have been on the protection as conservative activists and politicians assault diploma packages, lessons and campus tradition on race, gender and sexuality. Amid controversy over antisemitism, the presidents of Harvard and the College of Pennsylvania not too long ago resigned.
In 2022, Stanford was roiled by a Stanford Each day report questioning Tessier-Lavigne’s neurobiology analysis. , An unbiased panel later concluded that Tessier-Lavigne “didn’t personally interact in analysis misconduct” however failed a number of instances to right errors in printed analysis and oversaw labs that had manipulated knowledge. Saying his resignation final summer time, he mentioned he was stepping down “for the nice of the College.”
Final yr, the college mentioned it might return $5.5 million in donations from FTX, the bankrupt crypto trade whose founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced final week to 25 years in jail for fraud. Bankman-Fried is the son of two Stanford legislation professors.
Because the fall, campus conflicts have erupted over the Israel-Hamas warfare. In December, the U.S. Division of Schooling mentioned it was investigating allegations of discrimination on the campus, akin to antisemitism, after accusations that it violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The act bans discrimination based mostly on race, nationwide origin, shared ancestry and ethnic traits. The investigation is certainly one of a number of the federal authorities is conducting into U.S. universities within the wake of divisive campus protests since Oct. 7, as the road between freedom of speech and hate speech has grow to be a hot-button debate.
Stanford confronted intense strain within the fall over its statements on the Israel-Hamas warfare. Two days after the Oct. 7 assault by Hamas in southern Israel, leaders mentioned they had been “deeply saddened and horrified by the dying and human struggling” within the Center East however didn’t identify Hamas. By Oct. 11, a brand new assertion condemned all “terror and mass atrocities” together with the “deliberate assault on civilians this weekend by Hamas.”
In a College Senate assembly in January, Levin recommended the college shouldn’t shortly wade into world points. “I feel it fashions the fallacious factor for our college students, and it truly undermines our primary academic mission … ,” he mentioned. “We would like them to suppose slowly, to listen to from completely different folks, to weigh issues rigorously, and we must always mannequin that and have the main focus after an occasion on the earth to be round listening and studying.”
In a press release Thursday, Levin mentioned he would “strengthen our dedication to tutorial excellence and freedom; to foster the rules of openness, curiosity, and mutual respect; and to steer our college and college students as they advance information and search to contribute in significant methods to the world.”
Levin earned undergraduate levels in English and math from Stanford earlier than finding out at Oxford College and MIT. He joined the Stanford college in 2000. A former economics division chair, his analysis has centered on industrial group and market design. In 2016, he turned the dean of the Stanford Graduate College of Enterprise after its chief resigned. In 2021, Levin was appointed to President Biden’s Council of Advisors on Science and Know-how.
Levin would be the college’s thirteenth president.
“After I was an undergraduate, Stanford opened my thoughts, nurtured my love for math and literature, and impressed me to pursue an educational profession,” Levin mentioned. “Within the years since, it has given me alternatives to pursue concepts in collaboration with sensible colleagues, train distinctive college students, and produce folks collectively to attain formidable collective targets across the college.”
College administration additionally runs in his household. Levin is the son of former Yale College President Richard Levin.
Levin was chosen by a 20-member committee that included professors, college students, employees and trustees.
Jerry Yang, the chair of Stanford’s Board of Trustees who introduced the search committee in September, mentioned in a press release that Levin brings “a uncommon mixture of qualities: a deep understanding and love of Stanford, a powerful observe file of educational and management success, the analytical prowess to sort out advanced strategic points, and a collaborative and optimistic working model.”
“He’s persistently described by those that know him as principled, humble, genuine, considerate, and galvanizing,” Yang mentioned. “We’re enthusiastic about Stanford’s future below Jon’s management.”
