Senior Associate Deans

The three senior associate deans of the School of Humanities and Sciences are responsible for overseeing the academic direction of departments and programs within the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. The deans are appointed for three years and report to H&S Dean Richard Saller.

Debra Satz, the Marta Sutton Weeks Professor of Ethics in Society, is the senior associate dean for the humanities and arts. Satz is a philosophy professor and director of the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society. Her research focuses on the ethical limits of markets, the place of equality in a just society, and theories of rational choice. Satz also works on feminist philosophy, ethics and education, and issues of international justice.

Ralph Cohen, the Barbara Kimball Browning Professor in the School of Humanities & Sciences, is the senior associate dean for the natural sciences. Cohen joined the Mathematics department as an assistant professor in 1980. His research lies in the area of differential and algebraic topology. His work centers on topological questions that are inspired by theoretical physics, such as quantum field theory and string theory.

Ellen Markman, the Lewis M. Terman Professor of Psychology, is the senior associate dean for the social sciences. Markman, who previously served in this role from 1998 to 2000, has been a member of the Department of Psychology for almost four decades and was its chair from 1994 to 1997. She is regarded as one of the nation’s leading developmental psychologists.