Gabrielle Spiegel, an internationally renowned historian who has served in national leadership roles in historical studies, has been named dean of humanities in the UCLA College.

Spiegel's appointment, which is pending approval by the UC Board of Regents, is effective July 1, 2004. She assumes leadership of the humanities at UCLA from Professor of English Eric Sundquist, who has been serving a one-year appointment since former Dean Pauline Yu was named president of the American Council of Learned Societies.

"Dr. Spiegel is a superb scholar and academic leader who comes to her new post with an abiding commitment to interdisciplinary scholarship," said UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale.  "The humanities bring a unique richness and interdisciplinary strength to UCLA's academic program, and Dr. Spiegel is an ideal scholar and academic leader to direct this effort."

Currently the Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University, Spiegel is a medieval scholar whose work focuses on, among several fields, French literature, literary and cultural theory, and historiography (the practice and theory of writing history).

Spiegel has earned numerous awards and honors for her scholarship, among them a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, election as a fellow of the Medieval Academy, and a fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. Her academic leadership includes service as chair of the Department of History at Johns Hopkins University; and Vice President of the Research Division of the American Historical Association.

"What has impressed me most deeply about UCLA is the institution's profound commitment to the goals of a public research university -- through its involvement in its community, and through work with individuals to ensure that the university serves as an avenue of success for anyone who attends by making available education of the highest level of scholarly excellence," said Spiegel. "I believe strongly in the importance of that kind of civic involvement by a public university, and I am eager to be part of that effort."

The humanities at UCLA include several academic departments that are top-ranked nationally in their fields, including the Department of English (the nation's largest), literature, philosophy, musicology, study of more than 60 languages and cultures, and five interdisciplinary research centers.

"The humanities are being challenged at all universities by a variety of forces," said Spiegel, "but they remain of central importance to the core values of our scholarly and social lives. The humanities are absolutely crucial for cultural literacy and UCLA is particularly sensitive to the goal of comprehensive cultural literacy -- understanding that we live in a diverse, complex world, and that we all gain by understanding and appreciating it from a humanistic perspective."