On St. Patrick’s Day, Wake Forest faculty and administrators gathered in Reynolda Hall’s Green Room to welcome Dr. Jackie Krasas to her new role of Dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences — which she will assume on July 1.

Krasas is a highly regarded sociology and women’s, gender and sexuality studies scholar who currently serves as deputy provost for faculty affairs at Lehigh University. In this role, she led a study on faculty salary equity, instituted equitable evaluation of faculty workshops for tenure committees and department chairs and worked with faculties to strengthen training for search committees and tenure and promotion committees. 

“Besides being a truly accomplished teacher-scholar who cares deeply about students, Krasas is also a talented administrator,” Provost Michele Gillespie said in her introduction at the March 17 reception. “She has just the right set of credentials and experience and knowledge and personality to be a wonderful, wonderful leader.”

Gillespie and President Susan Wente announced Krasas’ appointment in a university-wide email on March 16. The search committee, which was formed last April, was co-chaired by Gillespie and Director of the Humanities Institute and English professor Dr. Dean Franco. It included perspectives from a wide variety of departments and two undergraduate students, Student Government President Pilar Agudelo (’23) and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB) major Landon Bradshaw (’23). 

The role of dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences — a title Krasas jokingly said should be shortened — is also new, intertwining undergraduate and graduate leadership under one leadership structure. This merging of responsibilities was reflected in a shift in the search process, which Krasas explained she appreciated.

“First of all, what impressed me was that the search changed direction right in the middle [of the search process],” Krasas said, “and that actually made this all the more appealing — to have an institution that can say ‘wait a minute’, let’s tweak this a little bit and do it the right way.”

Going beyond her academic and administrative goals and attitudes, Krasas offered a glimpse into her more underlying personality — describing her love of cooking and gardening, her appreciation for a healthy sense of humor and her inclination to share chocolate with her visitors. 

“It isn’t much good having anything exciting if you can’t share it with somebody,” Krasas said, quoting “one of her favorite famous philosophers,” Winnie-the-Pooh. 

In her remarks, Krasas reaffirmed Wake Forest’s identity as a medium-sized, liberal arts and research university as one of the things that attracted her to the position. But she also recognized the uncertainty of the future — and what schools like Wake Forest can do in spite of it all.

“To tackle the world’s problems, we’re going to need different ways of thinking and working,” Krasas said, “and I think the way I always talk about that is through interdisciplinary work and sort of loosening up what we do because, believe it or not, we are all interdisciplinary in our own ways.”

Even though she won’t officially begin her new position until July, Krasas emphasized the feeling of home that she has already started to feel on campus. 

“Every time I set foot on this campus, I feel like I made the right decision all over again,” Krasas said. 

Update March 29, 2023: This article’s subheadline has been updated to better reflect that Krasas will be dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.