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Following a comprehensive and transparent national search, I am thrilled to announce that Angie Bos will join ºù«Ӱҵ as Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the College, effective July 1, 2026. Working with the faculty, Dr. Bos is charged with ensuring that we deliver an outstanding liberal arts education to a talented and diverse group of students. As a leader she is committed to shared governance, connecting meaningfully with each constituency and articulating a clear vision for how she would partner with faculty, staff, and students to achieve great things together. Her leadership reflects a commitment to our core values and to fostering an inclusive, academically vibrant community. 

Dr. Bos currently serves as Dean and Professor in the School of Public Service at Boise State University, where she has led collaborative efforts to strengthen academic programs, student success, and institutional effectiveness. These initiatives included: solidifying experiential and career learning, creating an affordable semester-long internship program in Washington, D.C., and launching an integrated academic resource center supporting advising and career exploration. She also led inclusive processes to update the unit’s mission and governance structures and co-led university initiatives to strengthen advisor career pathways and secure funding for faculty raises.

She previously served as Professor and Department Chair of Political Science and Associate Dean for Experiential Learning at the College of Wooster, where she built an international reputation as a scholar. Her research examines the challenges women face when seeking leadership roles in politics and has appeared in leading journals such as American Political Science Review, Political Behavior, and Public Opinion Quarterly. Frequently co-authoring with undergraduate students, she also co-founded a 150+ member interdisciplinary Gender and Political Psychology network.

Dr. Bos earned her PhD and MA in political science from the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities and her BA from the University of Minnesota–Morris. A first-generation, low-income college student, she was profoundly shaped by Morris’s residential liberal arts environment. Throughout her career, she has been committed to using inclusive, engaged processes to examine and create changes and systems that support faculty, staff, and student success.

Thank you to my co-chair, Sasha Day, Professor of History & Asian Studies and Faculty Council President, for collaborating with me to lead the search advisory committee centered in academic excellence. I also express my sincere appreciation to each member of the committee for their dedication to this important process. This committee’s work was not a perfunctory exercise, but a series of dynamic and passionate conversations that assessed what ºù«Ӱҵ truly needs in an academic leader and brought a talented pool to campus.

• Lande Ajose ’87, Managing Director and Chief of Staff, Waverley Street Foundation 
• Liz Boyd, Director of Budget and Planning
• Jamila Chambers, Executive Director, Hameetman Career Center
• Lan Chu, Professor, Diplomacy & World Affairs
• Allison de Fren, Professor, Media Arts & Culture
• Sharla Fett, Robert Glass Cleland Professor in American History
• Darren Larsen, Chair and Associate Professor, Geology
• Carmel Levitan, Department Chair, Cognitive Science, Food Studies, and Neuroscience; Professor, Cognitive Science; Interim Director of the Office of Sponsored Research
• Malek Moazzam-Doulat, Resident Associate Professor, Critical Theory & Social Justice
• Clair Morrissey, Professor, Philosophy; Faculty Director for Partnerships with Los Angeles
• Sabrina Stierwalt, Assistant Professor, Physics; Faculty Council member 
• Woody Studenmund, Trustee, Laurence de Rycke Professor of Economics Emeritus
• Grahm Tapp ’28, student representative, Diversity & Equity Board, Academic Affairs Liaison
• Kristi Upson-Saia, Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs; David B. and Mary H. Gamble Professor of Religious Studies

Additionally, many groups of the ºù«Ӱҵ community participated in the on-campus interviews and community engagement sessions– including representatives from Faculty Council, department chairs, staff, trustees, Senior Leadership Team, and Associated Students of ºù«Ӱҵ–and I appreciate their time and thoughtful input. Your feedback was invaluable in informing the collaborative process which led to her selection. 

I’d also like to thank Interim Dean of the College and Vice President of Academic Affairs Kathryn Leonard for her dedicated service in this role since July 2024. Her representation of academic endeavors and faculty issues at the leadership table have been deeply valued and appreciated. She will continue to actively lead on key issues around curricular innovation and support for transfer students, and will remain in this role through June. 

Please join me in congratulating Angie and welcoming her to Occidental!

Best,
Tom