Sue Rosser, who has led the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts for the past 10 years, has been named provost at San Francisco State University (SFSU) starting this August.

Since July 1999, she has served as dean, holding the Ivan Allen Dean's Chair of Liberal Arts and Technology as well as joint professorships in the School of History, Technology, and Society and the School of Public Policy. She also holds the distinction of being the Institute's first female academic dean.

In leading Ivan Allen College, Rosser brought the academic rigor, depth and scope of the humanities and social sciences to education and research at Georgia Tech, integrating and distinguishing itself in Tech's culture of learning and innovation. Moreover, she built collaborative programs across disciplines in order to expand the Institute's intellectual diversity and produce the kind of graduates needed to address societal issues both at home and abroad.

With her colleagues, Rosser successfully created three new doctoral programs, three master's programs and four bachelor's programs. She hired 75 percent of the College's tenure-track faculty and doubled student enrollment. According to Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Gary Schuster, her legacy at Tech will reflect this marked progression.

"When Dean Rosser assumed her leadership role, there was not a clear understanding of how the College fit in with the rest of the academic units," Schuster said. "Under her direction, Ivan Allen College has achieved not only an identity and focus but also established itself as a leader in scholarship at the intersection of technology and the humanities. By every measure -- enrollment, sponsored research and national profile -- she has advanced liberal arts at Georgia Tech."

"Working with the school chairs and faculty in Ivan Allen, as well as colleagues in other units across Georgia Tech, has allowed Ivan Allen College to build wonderful programs at both the graduate and undergraduate levels," Rosser said. "I will miss the wonderful sense of collegiality and interdisciplinarity that permeates Tech and makes it such an exciting environment."

A public university with approximately 30,000 students and more than 3,500 faculty and staff, San Francisco State is among the largest campuses in the California State University system. As provost, Rosser will serve as the university's chief academic officer, with responsibility for the formulation and implementation of academic plans, policies and priorities, as well as the allocation of budgetary resources. She will oversee nine colleges, the university library, sponsored research and the offices that provide academic services and support.

"I'm very excited about SFSU and the new opportunities it provides to experience the San Francisco State of Mind," Rosser said. "Its emphasis on diversity and social responsibility as a public urban university stands as values that resonate particularly with me."

Rosser received her bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in zoology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has edited collections and written approximately 120 journal articles and 11 books on the theoretical and applied problems of women, science, and technology and women's health.

The Provost's Office will move immediately to identify and appoint an interim dean as well as initiate the search for Dean Rosser's successor.