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Dear Colleagues and Students, I am pleased to announce that Rachel Tolbert Kimbro, an award-winning educator and prolific researcher in the field of children's health, has been named the newest dean of Rice University's School of Social Sciences, effective July 1. Rachel, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Rice in 2001 and then joined the university as a faculty member in 2007 after receiving an M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology at Princeton University and completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will succeed Susan McIntosh, who has served as interim dean since 2019. Susan will return to the anthropology faculty. In addition to her research and teaching endeavors, Rachel has served as an undergraduate adviser, director of graduate studies, associate chair and interim chair of the Sociology Department. She also was a key part of the department's launch of a Ph.D. program in 2011, and has served on Social Sciences' faculty advisory committee. At the university level, Rachel has served as a faculty adviser to the president since 2019, as deputy speaker of the Faculty Senate from 2014 to 2016, as the co-chair for the provost search, and as co-chair of the Data Science Search and Programming Committee. She is also the founding director of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research's Urban Health Program. Rachel is an accomplished scholar and award-winning teacher who brings a wealth of experience and deep understanding of Rice to the position. She has the right mix of expertise and consultative leadership style to take the school to new heights of excellence and impact. I look forward to working with Rachel and know you will too. If you want to know more about her, please read the Rice News story highlighting her appointment. I hope you’ll join me in congratulating Rachel on her new role at Rice, and thanking Susan for her service as interim dean.
Warmest regards, Reginald DesRoches, Provost |