Professor Marc Kastner has announced the appointment of Biology Professor Hazel Sive to the position of associate dean for the School of Science, effective July 1. Sive will be the first associate dean in the school's history. In her new role she will focus on educational issues and initiatives.
"I am delighted that Professor Sive has agreed to be the first associate dean of the School of Science," said Kastner, who will become the dean of the School of Science on July 1. "She brings a passionate commitment to undergraduate education and is especially dedicated to expanding international educational opportunities for our students. I think she and I will work well together in addressing many challenges facing the school."
Sive is currently chair of the undergraduate program in the Department of Biology. "Hazel has done an outstanding job running the undergraduate program in biology--she has good ideas and is very effective in bringing them to fruition," said Professor Chris Kaiser, head of the Department of Biology. "I look forward to working with her on educational initiatives in the School of Science in her new role as associate dean."
Sive is a member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. She will continue to run an active research program in the Whitehead that focuses on two major topics: development of the extreme anterior (front) of the embryo and development of the nervous system, including the genetic basis for formation of correct brain structure. She uses frogs and zebrafish to probe these basic processes, which give insight into human birth defects and mental health disorders.
"I am very privileged to be a member of the Whitehead Institute and a professor at MIT and to be able to perform research in an environment where everything seems possible. I feel privileged to teach and mentor our talented undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs. And I feel privileged to serve MIT further by helping to set directions for the School of Science," Sive said.
In addition to her research and departmental activities, Sive is program director for a new MIT/South Africa Program. Previously, she served as the co-chair of the MIT Global Education and Opportunities Committee and chair of the Committee on Student Life at MIT. She serves on National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation grant review panels, as a journal editor and on the Board of the American Association of Anatomists. Â
Sive earned her Ph.D. from Rockefeller University in 1986 and performed postdoctoral research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle. She was named a Searle Scholar and received a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award. She arrived at MIT and Whitehead in 1991.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on June 13, 2007 (download PDF).
