The board of directors of the Five College Consortium has named Sarah Pfatteicher as its next executive director. She will take office on April 23.
The Five College Consortium is an organization representing five higher education institutions in western Massachusetts: Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The consortium cooperates in library subscriptions, joint faculty appointments, public radio, and programs in the history of science and astronomy. Students can take courses at any member institution and can audition for performance groups at any of the five colleges. Transportation is provided between the five campuses for the convenience of students and faculty. Two of the five educational institutions – Mount Holyoke and Smith – are women’s colleges.
Dr. Pfatteicher currently serves as associate dean for academic affairs and is a research professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research is focused on engineering ethics and education, and disaster prevention and response. She is the author of the book, Lessons Amid the Rubble: An Introduction to Post-Disaster Engineering and Ethics (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010).
Dr. Pfatteicher is a graduate of Smith College, where she double majored in physics and mathematics. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in the history of science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.