Emily Hannum Named Associate Dean for the Social Sciences

Steven J. Fluharty, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences and Thomas S. Gates, Jr. Professor of Psychology, Pharmacology, and Neuroscience, has announced the appointment of Emily Hannum as Associate Dean for the Social Sciences, effective July 1, 2018. In this new role, Hannum will oversee the Departments of Anthropology, Criminology, Economics, History and Sociology of Science, Political Science, and Sociology, as well as several research centers.

Hannum is a Professor of Sociology, holds a secondary appointment in the Graduate School of Education and serves as Associate Director of the Population Studies Center. She directed a 15-year longitudinal study of childhood poverty and upward mobility in China, where she is actively involved in other national and regional studies of children’s education, health, and welfare. She has also been a consultant on educational development issues to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank Institute, and UNESCO.

Hannum served as Graduate Chair in Sociology from 2008 to 2015 and as Associate Chair of Sociology from 2016 to 2017. She is also a member of the Graduate Groups in Demography and International Studies and is affiliated with the Center for the Study of Contemporary China and the Center for East Asian Studies. “Emily is a world-renowned sociologist and demographer,” says Fluharty. “Her scholarly distinction and record of leadership and engagement in the social sciences at Penn position her well for this important role.”

Hannum succeeds Rogers Smith, who continues as Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science. He will spend the coming academic year as President of the American Political Science Association, the first Penn professor to hold that position. “It has been an honor to work with Rogers during his four-year term as Associate Dean, and I am grateful for his exceptional service to the school,” says Fluharty.