Rebecca L. Walkowitz — a dedicated scholar and teacher and currently the Dean of Humanities and distinguished professor in the Department of English at Rutgers University’s School of Arts and Sciences — has been named Barnard College’s new Provost and Dean of the Faculty. Walkowitz will assume the new role on June 1.
Walkowitz, who specializes in the study of global modernism, contemporary Anglophone and multilingual fiction, world literature, and translation studies, will succeed Linda A. Bell, who has served as Provost and Dean of the Faculty since 2012 and will remain a member of Barnard’s faculty. Walkowitz’s appointment resulted from a comprehensive national search process that began last fall following Bell’s decision to step down from her administrative role.
“Barnard College is thrilled to welcome Rebecca, and her passion for cross-disciplinary teaching and research, to our tight-knit community,” said President Laura Rosenbury. “Students come to Barnard to learn from some of the world’s most accomplished faculty, and Rebecca’s academic leadership will ensure that Barnard remains one of the most dynamic colleges in the world.”
“I am enormously excited to join the Barnard community,” said Walkowitz. “I have a strong and passionate commitment to excellence in research and teaching, and I am looking forward to working with President Rosenbury, faculty, and staff to identify and nourish new areas of interdisciplinary collaboration, to expand access and success for all members of the College, and to articulate the ongoing impact of the liberal arts and sciences on our local, national, and global communities.”
A member of the Rutgers community since 2007, Walkowitz received the Board of Trustees Award for Excellence in Research in 2020 and has served as graduate program director and chair in English. While at Rutgers, she founded and led a multidisciplinary research group in modernism and globalization, launched a campus-wide initiative celebrating multilingualism called The Year of Languages, and led her department through the school’s first-ever Associate Professor Mentoring Program. In addition, Walkowitz is an affiliate faculty member in the comparative literature department.
A devoted scholar and mentor, Walkowitz has spent her career researching and teaching how literature helps us understand and build global communities, as well as acting to diversify academia and leading interdisciplinary departments. She earned a B.A. in history and literature from Harvard-Radcliffe College and was president of The Harvard Crimson. She received her M.Phil. in English literature and critical theory from the University of Sussex, as well as an M.A. and Ph.D. in English and American literature and language from Harvard University.
“What I love about being an academic is the multigenerational community we build together inside and outside the classroom,” said Walkowitz. “There is nothing like it. Students and faculty thinking, creating, analyzing, living, and growing together. Students come to learn with us, but we learn so much from them, and together we discover ideas that can change our world.”
A former Marshall Scholar, Walkowitz has received numerous fellowships, honors, and awards from Harvard, the National Humanities Center, and Freie Universität Berlin, to name a few. She’s been a member of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) consortium steering committee, the MLA Delegate Assembly Elections Committee, the advisory board of Modernist Studies in Asia, and the International Research Program on Cosmopolitan and Vernacular Dynamics in World Literature.
Walkowitz is the author of two books — Born Translated: The Contemporary Novel in an Age of World Literature and Cosmopolitan Style: Modernism Beyond the Nation — and she is editor of more than 10 publications. She has also given keynote and distinguished lectures at numerous prestigious universities and organizations around the world.
“It is an honor to have the opportunity to teach and support Barnard’s exceptional students and to advance Barnard’s substantial legacy in championing the leadership of women,” said Walkowitz.