Earth and Planetary Sciences professor David T. Johnston will serve as the Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ next dean of the Sciences, FAS Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra announced Tuesday.
Johnston, who has served as interim dean since January, will take the helm of the Sciences division at a turbulent moment, as Harvard faces continued threats to federal research funding and FAS moves ahead with a staff restructuring that could sharply reduce administrative headcount.
Hoekstra first appointed Johnston interim dean after former Dean of Science Jeff W. Lichtman abruptly stepped down from the role. The Crimson later revealed that Hoekstra had fired Lichtman after a protracted dispute over proposed cuts to Ph.D. admissions in the Sciences division.
At the time, Hoekstra had moved to suspend Ph.D. admissions in the division entirely. Hoekstra walked back an initial 75 percent cut to Sciences admissions to 50 percent in the fall, and said at a faculty meeting earlier this month that admissions would likely rise again in the next cycle.
But Johnston will still have to contend with ongoing austerity measures, including an administrative overhaul that could result in a 25 percent reduction in staff.
Johnston, a geobiologist, studies Earth’s history, including ancient oceans, atmosphere, and microbial life, using isotopic analysis and other geochemical methods. He joined Harvard as a Microbial Sciences Initiative Fellow in 2007 and became a faculty member in EPS in 2009, according to Hoekstra’s announcement.
Before becoming interim dean, Johnston held several leadership positions in the Sciences division. He served for nearly 15 years as co-director of graduate studies in EPS and has sat on both the Dean’s Faculty Advisory Committee and Division’s Executive Committee, according to Hoekstra’s message.
In her Tuesday announcement, Hoekstra called Johnston an “experienced and generous academic leader.”
“Since January, as Interim Dean of Science, he has worked closely with department chairs, faculty, and staff across the Division to support excellence in research and teaching, to steward resources, and to foster a sense of shared purpose across disciplines,” she added.
—Staff writer Abigail S. Gerstein can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at abbysg.97. Follow her on X @abbysgerstein.
—Staff writer Amann S. Mahajan can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at amannsm.38. Follow her on X @amannmahajan.