College Appoints New Dean of Faculty
Trinity has named
Rena Fraden to be dean of faculty, effective July 1, 2006. Currently
serving as associate dean of Pomona College in Claremont,
California, as well as the Frank S. Jennings Professor of English,
Fraden will also hold the titles of vice president for academic
affairs and the G. Keith Funston Professor of American Literature
and American Studies at Trinity. Reporting to the president, she
will be the chief academic officer and the second-ranking officer of
the College.
Fraden graduated
summa cum laude from Yale University and also received her Ph.D.
in English from Yale. She joined Pomona College as assistant
professor of English in 1983. During her 23 years at Pomona, she
served as the chair of the English Department from 1999 to 2003 and
was a member of numerous faculty and administrative committees,
including curriculum, faculty personnel, diversity, and affirmative
action committees.
In announcing the
appointment, President Jones notes that, “Trinity is fortunate to
gain such an accomplished teacher and nationally renowned scholar as
Rena Fraden. With her diverse inspirations and social perspectives,
she will provide thoughtful initiative and strategic leadership,
both in representing the faculty’s professional interests and in
furthering the College’s distinctive academic program.”
In addition to
receiving a Fulbright fellowship in India and being a fellow at the
Center for the Humanities at Wesleyan University, Fraden has
received several prestigious grants from the National Endowment for
the Humanities. As the author of Imagining Medea: Rhodessa Jones
and Theater for Incarcerated Women and Blueprints for a Black
Federal Theater, as well as numerous papers and articles, she
focuses her scholarly interest at the intersection between art and
social justice.
Remarking on her new role, Fraden says, “I
was drawn to Trinity, at least in part, because of its location and
the commitment of the faculty to the study of what locations mean,
how they matter, and in what ways they connect to each other. In a
curriculum that highlights analysis, experiential learning in
Hartford and abroad, and the opportunity to do original research, I
felt Trinity engages the best of theory and practice, in tension and
in dialogue.” Fraden will
be moving to Connecticut with her two daughters in the summer.
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