Culture and society dean chosen to lead national dean’s council

Susan Albertine, dean of the School of Culture and Society, was installed as president-elect of the national Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences (CCAS) this November.

Words by Tony Marchetti ’96, MA ’02

Susan Albertine

Susan Albertine, dean of the School of Culture and Society, was installed as president-elect of the national Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences (CCAS) this November. She will serve a three-year term, serving as president-elect this academic year, president next year, and past-president in year three. Founded in 1965, CCAS is a national association of deans whose purpose is to sustain the arts and sciences as a leading influence in American higher education. CCAS fosters leadership, connects deans with each other, provides professional development, serves as a forum for discussing issues in higher education, and advocates for liberal learning.

As a CCAS board member, Albertine has focused this past year on the future of public health education, and she will incorporate that project into her work as president. Joining with other organizations, she hopes to spearhead “a national effort to bring deans of the many health professions together with arts and sciences deans to prompt faculty …to engage questions that address human health and environmental sustainability.”

“This project is not primarily about creating public health professionals, although that would be a great outcome, ” Albertine said. “It is about educating students to think socially, not just individualistically, to have some concept of population science and global population studies, and to apply that integrative knowledge within their own disciplines.”

Discussions about infusing the issues of public health into TCNJ’s curriculum have already started on campus. “We need to educate our students to become citizens in a very challenging world,” Albertine said. “We’re not going to be able to address human health and environmental sustainability in the decades ahead unless we prepare future citizens in a much more comprehensive way.”