Humanist at the Helm

Patton: Dooley to Devil.

Office of News and Communications

Laurie L. Patton, the Charles Howard Candler Professor of religion at Emory University and director of Emory’s Center for Faculty Development and Excellence, will become the next dean of the faculty of arts and sciences beginning in July. She will oversee the university’s core academic units, which offer courses and degrees across the arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

Patton, who received her B.A. from Harvard University in 1983 and her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1991, is the author or editor of eight books on South Asian history, culture, and religion. She translated the classical Sanskrit text The Bhagavad Gita for the Penguin Classics Series and also has written two books of poetry. Her current research for two forthcoming books focuses on religion in the public sphere and on women and Sanskrit in contemporary India.

Patton will succeed Alvin L. Crumbliss, a chemistry professor and former dean of natural sciences who was appointed interim arts and sciences dean in May 2010, after former dean George McLendon left to become the provost of Rice University.