Appointments

Kathleen McCartney named academic dean

Professor of Education Kathleen McCartney began serving as academic dean

McCartney of the Graduate School of Education on July 1. An early-childhood education expert, McCartney has conducted research on issues including child care, poverty, parenting, behavior genetics theory, and social policy. For the past 13 years she has served as a principal investigator of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development’s Study of Child Care and Youth Development.

By tracking more than 1,300 children from birth through sixth grade, the study aims to examine the effects of early child care on such areas as parent-child relationships, a child’s development, and a child’s later success in transitioning to school. The data gathered from this research are the most comprehensive on child care to date.

McCartney previously served as director of the University of New Hampshire Child Study and Development Center. She holds a Ph.D. from Yale University.

Wang named professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures

David Der-wei Wang, an authority on modern Chinese literature whose work has galvanized and redefined his field, has been named the Edward C. Henderson Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Harvard University. Wang is currently the Dean Lung Professor of Chinese Studies at Columbia University, where he has built a highly respected program in modern Chinese literature. He also serves as director of Columbia’s Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation Center for Chinese Cultural and Institutional History.

“David Wang is an immensely erudite, prolific, and innovative scholar who is unrivaled in the depth and breadth of his studies of modern Chinese literature,” said William C. Kirby, Edith and Benjamin Geisinger Professor of History, and dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Prieto to join Harvard’s terrorism research team

Leading congressional homeland security expert Daniel B. Prieto III, who most recently served on the Select Committee on Homeland Security in the U.S. House of Representatives, and as an International Affairs Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations, is joining the terrorism research team at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Prieto will serve both as a fellow and as research director of the Homeland Security Partnership Initiative.

Sniffin-Marinoff as University archivist

Sidney Verba, the Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and director of the University Library, has appointed Megan Sniffin-Marinoff to the position of Harvard University archivist. Sniffin-Marinoff, who currently serves as librarian and deputy director of Radcliffe’s Schlesinger Library, succeeds Harley P. Holden, who held the position from 1971 until his retirement late in 2003. Sniffin-Marinoff appointment became effective Sept. 7.

Sniffin-Marinoff came to Radcliffe from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was head of the Institute Archives and Special Collections. During the initial months of her new appointment, she will continue to guide major renovations to the Schlesinger Library building that are slated for completion early in 2005.

– Compiled by Andrew Brooks