Ann Matter Appointed Associate Dean for Arts and Letters
April 2006
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E. Ann Matter, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor and Chair of Religious Studies, has been appointed Associate Dean for Arts and Letters of the School of Arts and Sciences, effective July 1, 2006. She will oversee the School's academic programs in the humanities, including 13 departments: Classical Studies, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, English, German, History, History of Art, Music, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Romance Languages, Slavic Languages, and South Asia Studies.
Dr. Matter's teaching and research encompass the history of Christian culture, the interpretation of the Bible in the Middle Ages, women in the Christian tradition, and textual studies. She is the author of The Voice of My Beloved: The Song of Songs in Western Medieval Christianity and several critical editions of medieval texts. She also co-edited Creative Women in Medieval and Early Modern Italy: A Religious and Artistic Renaissance and The Liturgy of the Medieval Church. Ann's scholarship has been honored with her election as a Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America and the receipt of Guggenheim and NEH Fellowships; her teaching has been recognized with a Lindback Award and the College Alumni Society Outstanding Teaching Award. She joined the Penn faculty in 1976 after receiving her Ph.D. from Yale and her B.A. from Oberlin.
SAS Dean Rebecca Bushnell calls Dr. Matter, "the consummate citizen of the humanities at Penn" and said that she "will bring to the Dean's office many years of distinguished leadership in a broad range of programs."
Dr. Matter will succeed Professor of Classical Studies Joseph Farrell, who will continue as a faculty member in Classical Studies. Dr. Farrell served in the Dean's Office for six years, including three as Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and three as Associate Dean for Arts and Letters. He is a scholar of Latin and Greek literature, Roman culture and society, and comparative literature and cultural studies.