By Eliot Schiaparelli

Laura Auricchio, Ph.D., has been appointed as Dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) starting August 1, 2019. Auricchio is the first female dean of FCLC.

Auricchio previously served as vice provost for curriculum and learning and dean within the Schools of Public Engagement at The New School. She has a Ph.D in Art History and Archaeology from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.

Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the university, and Jonathan Crystal, Ph.D., Interim Provost for FCLC, expressed their excitement over Auricchio’s appointment in an email announcing the appointment.

“In Dr. Auricchio we have found an active scholar and public intellectual, a skilled teacher and mentor, and an experienced administrator who has held leadership positions of increasing responsibility in higher education,” they wrote

McShane and Crystal commended her involvement within liberal arts studies.

“She is active in professional and arts associations, including the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies and the College Art Association,” they wrote.

According to the email, Auricchio has also published in academic journals, exhibition reviews and magazine articles.

She holds accolades such as the Whiting Fellowship in the Humanities, a Fulbright Advanced Student Grant and others from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Her book, The Marquis: Lafayette Reconsidered, won the 2015 American Library in Paris Book Award.

In a statement to The Fordham Ram, Crystal wrote that he was thrilled about Auricchio’s appointment.

“Dr. Auricchio is an accomplished scholar and an experienced administrator,” he wrote. “She is someone who will be a strong leader and champion of FCLC while working collaboratively with faculty and with the other deans and administrators.”

Crystal said that throughout the interview process, he was impressed by Auricchio’s commitment to bettering the Fordham community.

“When I interviewed her, I was impressed with her commitment to Fordham’s mission, her passion for promoting diversity and inclusion, and her ideas for enhancing the academic quality of the college and the student experience.”

McShane and Crystal also thanked the search committee involved with Auricchio’s appointment: chaired by Anthony Davidson, Ph.D., dean of the School of Professional and Continuing Studies. They said the committee completed a wide-ranging and productive national search.

In addition, they thanked Frederick J. Wertz, Ph.D., who served as interim dean for FCLC since January 2018.