Amit Chakrabarti has been named as the newest dean of Kansas State's college of arts and sciences.
Amit Chakrabarti has been named as the newest dean of Kansas State’s college of arts and sciences.
SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) — Following an extensive national search, Kansas State University has named Amit Chakrabarti as its new dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Chakrabarti has served since Feb. 2016 as interim dean of the university’s largest college with 24 departments, and a broad array of majors, secondary majors and minors spanning many disciplines.
He succeeds Peter Dorhout, who is now vice president for research at Kansas State. Prior to his interim appointment, Chakrabarti was the head of the department of physics and the William and Joan Porter chair in physics. He will report directly to the university’s provost and senior vice president and serve on the Academic Council of Deans.
“I am excited to welcome Dr. Chakrabarti as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences,” said April Mason, provost and senior vice president. “He has shown remarkable leadership and valuable collaborative skills during his tenure at Kansas State University.”
As dean, Chakrabar will serve as the college’s chief academic and administrative officer. He will provide leadership and support to all under graduate and graduate academic degree programs in the college and work with faculty, department heads, deans and administrators on interdisciplinary and collaborative projects.
“With the college’s talented faculty and amazing students, we can make more opportunities available to K-Staters in research and education in the arts and sciences,” Chakrabarti said. “I am honored to serve in this role to continue the college’s success in research, scholarship and diversity.”
He became head of the physics department in 2011, where he spearheaded a 30-faculty member team, many of whom are nationally recognized for teaching and research excellence. Chakrabarti was the recipient of the Presidential Award for Outstanding Department Head in 2016.
His individual and collaborative research projects have received extramural funding from agencies such as NASA and the National Science Foundation. Chakrabarti has a doctorate in physics from the University of Minnesota, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in physics from the University of Calcutta, India. He joined Kansas State in 1990 and was named a full-time professor in 2000.
