Gretchen Ritter Will Be the First Woman Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell

Gretchen Ritter has been appointed the 21st dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. When she takes office on August 1, she will be the first woman to have held the position.

Dr. Ritter currently serves as professor of government and vice provost for undergraduate education at the University of Texas at Austin. She joined the faculty at the Austin campus in 1992. From 2004 to 2009, she was the director of the university’s Center for Women’s and Gender Studies.

Professor Ritter is the author of two books: Goldbugs and Greenbacks: The Antimonopoly Tradition and the Politics of Finance in America, 1865-1896 (Cambridge University Press, 1997) and The Constitution As Social Design: Gender And Civic Membership in the American Constitutional Order (Stanford University Press, 2006).

Professor Ritter is a graduate of Cornell University, where she majored in government. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.