Cynthia Barnhart was appointed chancellor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. The chancellor’s position is not the same as university president as it is at many other institutions of higher learning. At MIT the chancellor has oversight responsibility for graduate and undergraduate education at MIT, student life, student services, and other areas that impact student experience.
Since 2007, Dr. Barnhart has served as associate dean and is the Ford Foundation Professor of Engineering in MIT’s School of Engineering. She joined the MIT faculty in 1992 after teaching at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She was promoted to full professor at MIT in 2002.
Professor Barnhart is a native of Barre, Vermont. She is a graduate of the University of Vermont and holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from MIT.