The appointment of Howard Marchitello, a noted scholar and higher education leader, as the dean of the Rutgers–Camden Faculty of Arts and Sciences is announced by Phoebe A. Haddon, chancellor of Rutgers University–Camden.
The appointment becomes effective on Jan. 1. As dean, Marchitello will lead the growth of Rutgers University–Camden’s largest academic unit, which enrolls 3,288 undergraduate and 467 graduate students in 38 bachelor’s degree-granting programs and in 20 master’s and Ph.D. programs.
Marchitello, 57, currently is the senior associate dean for research and the Graduate School at Rutgers University–Camden, where he also is a professor of English. As senior associate dean, he developed several interdisciplinary graduate programs, including teaching in Spanish, forensic science, public affairs/community development, and teacher education. He fostered the creation of graduate certificate programs in historic preservation and in community development in Puerto Rico, and created a series of initiatives to promote and support student and faculty research at Rutgers–Camden.
“I am honored to be appointed as the next dean of Rutgers University–Camden’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences,” says Marchitello. “I enthusiastically accept this position because I know firsthand that Rutgers–Camden is an extraordinary institution. We are home to truly world-class research and teaching faculty and, together with a gifted professional staff, we teach and mentor an increasingly diverse and accomplished student population who recognize the value and prestige conferred by a Rutgers degree.
“At the same time, we remain deeply and productively committed to and engaged with our host city of Camden. We have experienced profound growth and development over the last several years and I believe that the future for Rutgers–Camden is bright indeed. I am looking forward to working every day to help fulfill the great promise of our institution. I invite all the friends of Rutgers–Camden to keep an eye on us. You’re going to like what you see.”
Haddon lauds Marchitello as an effective administrator with an energetic vision of the role of the arts and sciences in building careers, advancing research, and serving communities.
“He has sharp insight into the academic and pedagogical rigor required of successful schools,” says Haddon, chancellor of Rutgers University–Camden. “He is passionate about the value of the Rutgers University–Camden experience across every aspect of our institution and contributes greatly to the vitality of our campus.”
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University–Camden has 426 faculty who teach a wide range of topics spanning the sciences, the humanities, the arts, and the social sciences. The academic unit is home to the first childhood studies Ph.D. program in the United States; a cutting-edge computational and integrative biology program that is establishing the next generation of computer imaging to solve complex health matters; a Digital Studies Center that delivers a multidisciplinary approach to exploring the impact of technology upon society; and much more.
Rutgers University–Camden arts and sciences faculty attract millions of dollars in highly competitive federal research funding every year from such agencies as the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Department of Justice. The school provides students with a portfolio of learning experiences, including international study, the opportunity to create original research, and internships at multinational and local organizations. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University–Camden has more than 33,000 living alumni.
Marchitello joined Rutgers University–Camden as an associate professor of English in 2008 and was promoted to professor in 2011. He served as chair of the Department of English during 2009 to 2012. He previously served as director of graduate students in the English department at Texas A&M University, where he also coordinated that university’s Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate for the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
A noted scholar in the area of 16th- and 17th-century literature, Marchitello is the author of the books The Machine in the Text: Science and Literature in the Age of Shakespeare and Galileo (Oxford University Press, 2011) and Narrative and Meaning in Early Modern England: Browne’s Skull and Other Histories(Cambridge University Press, 1997). As textual editor for the Q1 and Folio editions of Henry V for the third edition of The Norton Shakespeare (Norton, 2015), he was responsible for the completely new production of modernized texts.
Marchitello is associate editor of the journal South Central Review (Johns Hopkins University Press) and conducts manuscript review and evaluation for such top university presses as Cambridge, Oxford, and Yale. His work appears in numerous book chapters and articles in top academic journals.
He received his bachelor’s degree from Hobart College in 1983 and his doctoral degree in English from SUNY-Buffalo in 1990.
Marchitello resides in Riverton with his wife, Lynne Vallone, a professor of childhood studies at Rutgers University–Camden. They are the parents of Max Vallone Marchitello, who resides in Alexandria, Va., and Rosalie Marchitello-Clauss of Orchard Park, N.Y.