Vice Provost for Education Named Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences

David Edelstein, current vice provost for education, will serve as the new dean of the Georgetown University College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) starting July 1, announced in a Feb. 3 email.

Edelstein, who is also a professor in the department of government and the School of Foreign Service, joined the university in 2002. The announcement comes after former Dean Rosario “Rosie” Ceballo left the university June 30, 2024, to become dean of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan.

Edelstein said he is excited to build on the legacy of CAS, the university’s oldest school.

“The liberal arts, what we do in the College, this is the heart and soul of Georgetown,” Edelstein said in a press release. “I am eager to get to work with our entire community — faculty, students, and staff — to build a College of Arts & Sciences that only further realizes its enormous potential. I take seriously the responsibility of this position: to safeguard the institution while also seizing upon new and exciting opportunities.” 

Georgetown Interim President Robert M. Groves said Edelstein will help lead CAS in a period of growth.

“We are pleased to welcome David into this new role and look forward to the leadership he will provide Georgetown College in its third century,” Groves wrote in the email. “His experience and leadership at Georgetown will be invaluable as we continue to grow the exceptional education and research by the College on the Hilltop and the Capitol Campus.”

Edelstein said he wants to continue overseeing CAS’s improvement and reinforce its place in the university.

“There’s work to be done on the identity of the College,” Edelstein said in the press release. “The College’s identity sometimes gets washed out a little bit in the broader university identity. I’d like to think about what’s unique about the College that people feel strongly about and to which they are passionately committed.”

“There is continuing work to be done on diversifying our community and making it a more equitable and inclusive community,” Edelstein said. “These are all things that we ought to value because having diverse voices in our community leads to more impactful education and research.”