Schulze named dean of College of Arts and Sciences

Robin G. Schulze, associate dean for the humanities and professor of English at the University of Delaware, has been named dean of UB’s College of Arts and Sciences.

The appointment, effective July 1, was announced today by Charles F. Zukoski, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, who said Schulze emerged as the top choice after an extensive search that produced a national pool of highly competitive candidates.

As dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Schulze (pronounced Shul-zee)  will oversee UB’s largest and most diverse academic unit with 27 departments and 16 academic programs in the arts, humanities, social sciences and natural sciences, as well as 23 centers and institutes, two art galleries, and major theater and music performance venues.

“Dr. Schulze emerged as the leading candidate as a result of her significant leadership experience, impressive scholarly accomplishments, creative energy, strong commitment to the liberal arts and proven ability to work with faculty to create and implement a shared vision,” Zukoski said. “As dean, I am confident that Dr. Schulze will lead our College of Arts and Sciences to build on its strengths, achieve even greater prominence in research and education, and enhance its impact in our local and global communities.”

Schulze succeeds E. Bruce Pitman, who announced in October his plans to step down. Pitman has served as dean since July 2011 and will return to a full-time faculty role as a researcher and educator in the Department of Materials Design and Innovation.

President Satish K. Tripathi said Schulze “an outstanding leader to guide our College of Arts and Sciences forward as it embarks on the second century of its distinguished history.”

“As a seasoned administrator and a renowned humanities scholar, she has amassed truly impressive experience in advancing scholarly collaboration and innovation across the disciplines. She brings tremendous energy and vision to this key role, and it will be exciting to see how the college continues to excel and evolve under her leadership.”

Schulze said she was honored and excited to be joining “such a dynamic and innovative university.”

“I look forward to collaborating with Buffalo’s world-class faculty to shape the future of the College of Arts and Sciences. I have roots in the region and I’m very happy that my career has led me back to Western New York,” she said.

Schulze is an expert in modernist American poetry, textual scholarship, editorial theory, and modernist literature and culture. She is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading scholars of the poet Marianne Moore and her modernist peers.

A prolific scholar, Schulze has published four books and more than 20 articles and book chapters. Throughout her work, she approaches print objects as material objects and explores how the material presentations of linguistic texts affect their interpretation and reception.

Schulze’s research has been supported by numerous grants and fellowships, including prestigious grants from the National Humanities Center and the American Philosophical Society. She is president and executive board member of the Society for Textual Scholarship and its past executive director.

As associate dean at the University of Delaware, she manages six departments and five interdisciplinary programs, and works closely with the associate deans for the Natural Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences. Schulze led the humanities faculty in the development of a shared emphasis in material culture, raising more than $1 million in foundation and university support, resulting in a cluster hire across the humanities disciplines. She similarly brought faculty together to make the University of Delaware a leader in public humanities-focused research and graduate education.

Before joining the University of Delaware, Schulze served as head of the Department of English at Pennsylvania State University from 2007-11. Prior to that, she served in numerous administrative roles, including associate head, director of undergraduate studies, chair of the graduate studies committee and director of the Center for American Literary Studies.

Schulze received her PhD in English and her master’s degrees in English and music performance from the University of Michigan. She earned her bachelor’s degree in music history from Yale University and performed as a professional harpist throughout the northeast corridor from 1980-85.

Her grandfather, John Stuart Allan, grew up in Buffalo and earned a BS and law degree from UB in 1927 and 1930, respectively. Her mother, Joan Gail Allan, was born in Buffalo, lived in Kenmore until she was 12 and later taught school in Clarence upon her return to the region in the 1950s, when she met and married Schulze’s father, Merlin Dwight Schulze. 

 The couple moved to Pittsford in the 1960s, where Schulze grew up. She returned to the Rochester area in 1979 to study under noted harpist Eileen Malone at the Eastman School of Music before transferring to Yale.