Nicholas Dirks

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See also Wikipedia's article about "Nicholas Dirks".
See also Nicholas Dirks's entry in Columbia's directory.
Nick Dirks; photo from the front page of CCT

Nicholas B. Dirks was the Executive Vice President for Arts and Sciences and Dean of that same faculty, the Franz Boas Professor of Anthropology, and a Professor of History.

Trained as an anthropologist and historian of South Asia, particularly concerned with southern India, Dirks came to Columbia in 1997, and radically altered the approach of the Anthropology Department toward Postcolonialism. In his role as VP for Arts and Sciences, he has gained credit for aggressively recruiting (and in some cases raiding) faculty to dramatically improve targeted departments, most notably Economics. Despite his administrative role, Dirks still publishes, though he rarely now teaches undergraduates.

He is married to professor of Indian history Janaki Bakhle. They like to weekend in the southern Berkshires.

In November 2012, he announced he would step down from his position as EVP to become Chancellor (aka President) at Berkeley.

Arts & Sciences

In his role as the Executive Vice President for Arts and Sciences and as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Dirks was effectively the administrative overseer of Columbia College, General Studies, and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, all of which are taught by his faculty. Therefore, the deans of all three schools reported directly to him.

External links

Preceded by
Ira Katznelson
Vice President for the Arts and Sciences and Dean of the Faculty 
2004-2012
Succeeded by
Incumbent