Dr. Evelynn Hammonds became the Dean of Harvard College on June 1, 2008. She was Harvard University's senior vice provost for Faculty Development and Diversity prior to this appointment. She also holds the title of Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz Professor of the History of Science, and Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University.

Dr. Hammonds is a distinguished scholar and teacher. She joined the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 2002 after teaching at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she was the founding director of the Center for the Study of Diversity in Science, Technology and Medicine. Her scholarly interests include the history of scientific, medical, and sociopolitical concepts of race, the history of disease and public health, gender in science and medicine, and African-American history. She is the author of "Childhood's Deadly Scourge: The Campaign to Control Diphtheria in New York City, 1880-1930" and many scholarly articles. She is currently working on "The Logic of Difference: A History of Race in Science and Medicine in the United States."

Dr. Hammonds received her B.S. in physics from Spelman College. She earned a bachelor's in electrical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, a master's degree in physics from MIT, and a Ph.D. in the history of science from Harvard. She was a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J. She served as Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer from 2003 to 2005.

Dr. Hammonds is an associate member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. She is a current member of the Board of Overseers of the Museum of Science in Boston, a member of the Board of the Social Science Research Council, member of the Board of Governors, University of California Humanities Research Institute, 2006-2008, and a member of the board of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. She holds an honorary doctorate of humane letters from her alma mater, Spelman College. In February 2008 she was named a Fellow of the Association for Women in Science (AWIS). Hammonds was recently named to serve on the National Research Council's Committee on Underrepresented Groups and the Expansion of the Science and Engineering Workforce Pipeline.

From Harvard Gazette, March 4, 2008.