Claire E. Sterk has notified the board of trustees of Emory University in Atlanta that she will be retiring as president, effective August 2020. After a sabbatical, she will return to the faculty as the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Public Health in the Rollins School of Public Health. When she took office on September 1, 2016, Dr. Sterk was the first woman to serve as president of the university in its 180-year history.
In announcing her retirement, Dr. Sterk stated that “it has been my great honor and privilege to serve as president of Emory University. I’ve been a part of this institution for more than 24 years, and I’m genuinely amazed at the advancements we’ve made in that time. In my tenure as president, I’m especially proud that we’ve increased research funding by approximately 28 percent.”
From 2013 to 2106, Dr. Sterk as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Emory. She joined the faculty at the university in 1995. During her tenure, in addition to her endowed professorship, Dr. Sterk served as associate dean for research and chair of the department of behavioral sciences and health education.
A native of The Netherlands, Dr. Sterk earned a Ph.D. in sociology from Erasmus University in Rotterdam and a doctoral degree in medical anthropology from the University of Utrecht.