“A grand vision of what Emory can become”

Robert A. Paul has been named dean of Emory College and of the faculty of arts and sciences. Paul had been interim dean since fall 2001. Prior to that, he was dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

“Bobby Paul brings immense experience, considerable understanding of the intellectual life of the academy, seasoned wisdom, and great dedication to his role at the University,” said President William M. Chace. “I welcome him to his deanship, for I know he will honor it.”

A member of Emory’s faculty since 1977, Paul helped establish Emory’s anthropology department in 1979 and served as its first acting chair. Since 1986 he has been the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Anthropology and Interdisciplinary Studies. Paul also is an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science and holds a joint faculty appointment in anthropology and the Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts, which he directed from 1982 to 1986 and from 1997 to 2000.

Paul also established Emory’s widely recognized Psychoanalytic Studies Program in 1997 and received Emory’s Crystal Apple Award in 2000 for his graduate teaching in that program.

His 1996 book Moses and Civilization: The Meaning Behind Freud’s Myth, received the Heinz Hartmann Award in psychoanalysis, the L. Bryce Boyer Award in psychological anthropology, and the National Jewish Book Award in the area of Jewish thought.

“He is a scholar of international reputation, one of the most dedicated servants of Emory University, and a person with a grand vision of what Emory can become,” said Howard O. Hunter, interim provost. “It has been one of my great pleasures to know him for many years and to have worked with him as a fellow dean and as provost. I know that he will be a superb leader of Emory College.”