Jacobs named dean for graduate studies

Jacobs

Bruce Jacobs, professor of political science and public policy, has been named University dean for graduate studies, effective immediately.

The dean generally oversees doctoral studies at the University, chairing the University Council on Graduate Studies, overseeing the Sproull Fellows selection process, and serving as the central administration liaison with graduate student organizations.

An expert on domestic social policy in the areas of aging, housing, and poverty, Jacobs earned his bachelor's degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his master's and doctoral degrees in political science from Harvard University. He joined the University faculty in 1973, founded the Public Policy Analysis Program in 1975, and served as the program's director from 1989 to 1996. During the 1980-81 academic year, he was guest scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.

Jacobs has served in a variety of roles at the University. From 1994 to 1996 he chaired the President's Commission on Benefits' subcommittee on retirement, which designed the current formula for the University retirement contribution. In the Department of Political Science he served as director of graduate admissions from 1986 to 1989. Among those he recruited for the doctoral program are graduates now teaching at Yale, Northwestern, Brown, Michigan State, and Stanford universities. He said he hopes to facilitate doctoral-program recruiting efforts throughout the University and to help form closer bonds with graduates after they leave.