SUBJECT:

Retirement of Steven Cassedy, Associate Dean

After 38 years of distinguished service at UC San Diego, including 16 years as Associate Dean of Graduate Division, Steven Cassedy, Distinguished Professor of Literature, will be retiring effective September 1, 2018, and his last day of work will be August 31, 2018.

On several occasions over the years, Associate Dean Cassedy graciously stepped in to serve as Acting or Interim Dean for varying periods of time. He has a distinguished record of service not only in the administration but also in the Academic Senate. His primary responsibilities have been to organize graduate program reviews on behalf of the Graduate Council of the Academic Senate, and to advise faculty, departments, programs and divisions on the design of new graduate programs.

His extensive Senate experience prior to joining the Graduate Division, including as Chair of Graduate Council and the systemwide Coordinating Committee on Graduate Affairs, has been extremely valuable. In addition, Associate Dean Cassedy shouldered an additional responsibility by serving as Interim Director of the Center for Teaching Development. He also served as Director of the Making of the Modern World program in Eleanor Roosevelt College from 2001 to 2007, overseeing the duties of numerous teaching assistants, and being himself an outstanding instructor in the humanities, as evidenced by his receiving the Class of 2008 Outstanding Faculty Award.

In addition to his leadership role in the Graduate Division, Professor Cassedy continued his career as a teacher and renowned scholar of Russian literature, other Western European literatures, intellectual history of the West, and Russian-Jewish and American-Jewish cultural history. His most recent book, "Connected - How Trains, Genes, Pineapples, Piano Keys, and a Few Disasters Transformed Americans at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century" (published by Stanford University Press, 2014), has received acclaim from both lay and scholarly readers, and has been reviewed in the Boston Globe and San Diego Union-Tribune, among others. The volume received a Gold Medal in the IPPY (Independent Publisher) Book Awards.

Associate Dean Cassedy has made lasting and meaningful contributions to our campus, for which my predecessors and I are sincerely thankful. I personally owe him a debt of gratitude for his collegiality, sound advice, and dedicated service during my first year as Dean. It has truly been a great pleasure to work with him so closely. Please join me in thanking Steve for his exceptional contributions to UC San Diego, Graduate Division and graduate education in his roles as Associate Dean, administrator, faculty, and community member.

An internal search for two 25% Associate Deans for Graduate Division will be launched shortly.

Kit Pogliano Dean, Graduate Division