The Dean Is In

It’s official. Professor John Majewski, UCSB’s interim dean of humanities and fine arts since 2014, has been permanently appointed to the position. His deanship is effective May 9.

“We are grateful to John Majewski for his outstanding work as interim dean,” said UCSB Chancellor Henry T. Yang. “He brings this first-hand experience as well as two decades of scholarship, leadership and service to his position as dean. Please join us in extending our warmest congratulations and welcome to John in this important new leadership role.”

Majewski first joined UCSB in 1995 as a faculty member in the Department of History. Since that time he has held a number of leadership posts, including chair of the history department from 2009-2012. He served on the campus Program Review Panel for five years, three years of which he was chair or co-chair, as well as on the Letters & Science Faculty Executive Committee and on the Committee on Research.

Prior to being named interim dean in 2014, Majewski had served as associated dean of humanities and fine arts.

“As interim dean, I really enjoyed working closely with so many distinguished scholars and instructors in so many different departments and disciplines,” Majewski said. “The experience was often humbling, but also tremendously exciting. I'm really pleased to have the opportunity to continue that work.

“I am very honored to be named the Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts,” he added. “It is a privilege to be part of one of the world’s premiere research and teaching universities, and I look forward to working with our faculty and students to build on the tremendous success that we have achieved under the guidance of Chancellor Yang and former Dean David Marshall. The arts and humanities are becoming more interdisciplinary, and our campus culture of collaboration puts UC Santa Barbara in excellent position to be in the forefront of innovative teaching and research.”

Majewski holds a doctorate from UCLA, where he won the Nevins Prize for the best dissertation in North American economic history, awarded by the Economic History Association. He previously received a master of science degree from the London School of Economics.

Author of the books “A House Dividing: Economic Development in Pennsylvania and Virginia Before the Civil War” and “Modernizing a Slave Economy: The Economic Imagination of the Confederate Nation,” as well as numerous articles, reviews and book chapters, Majewski’s areas of specialization include United States history; American economic, social and legal history; Southern history; and the United States Civil War. 

Among Majewski’s myriad honors and awards are a Howard Foundation Mid-Career Fellowship; the Hubbell Prize for an article on Civil War History; the Vernon Carstensen Memorial Award; and an Andrew Mellon Research Fellowship from the Virginia Historical Society. He also won the Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award in 2003.