Announcing the Dean of Georgetown College of Arts & Sciences
Dear Members of the Georgetown University Community:
I write to announce that David Edelstein, Ph.D., currently vice provost for education, has been appointed the next dean of the Georgetown College of Arts & Sciences, effective July 1, 2025.
A member of our faculty since 2002, Dr. Edelstein serves as a professor in the Department of Government, the Walsh School of Foreign Service, and the Center for Security Studies and has held multiple roles in academic administration in the College, the School of Foreign Service, and the Office of the Provost.
As vice provost for education, he has been responsible for efforts that support the growth of undergraduate and graduate education at Georgetown, working on new program development and program assessment on both the Hilltop and Capitol Campuses. He has been involved in supervising offices related to career services, global education, admissions, and student learning and has contributed to the University’s work to strengthen and reimagine graduate education.
Prior to his current appointment, he served for six years as vice dean for faculty affairs in the College, where he was deeply involved in strategic planning and faculty development for the College, and as the faculty chair of SFS, working on behalf of more than one hundred faculty in both undergraduate and masters programs.
He is the author of two books, Over the Horizon: Time, Uncertainty, and the Rise of Great Powers (Cornell University Press, 2017) and Occupational Hazards: Success and Failure in Military Occupation (Cornell University Press, 2008), and more than a dozen articles and chapters. Occupational Hazards received an honorable mention for the International Studies Association International Security Studies Section Book Award and was named a Choice Outstanding Academic Title.
Dr. Edelstein has been recognized with multiple Georgetown awards for excellence in teaching and service, including the Gerald Mara Graduate Student Mentorship Award (2013), the Constantine E. McGuire Medal (2013), the SFS Faculty of the Year Award (2007), the Dorothy Brown Award for Teacher of the Year (2006), and was twice nominated by the Department of Government for the Dean of the College’s Excellence in Teaching Award.
He received his doctorate and master of arts degrees in political science from the University of Chicago and his bachelor of arts from Colgate University. He has also held fellowships at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, and the Wilson Center, a nonpartisan institute chartered by Congress to focus on global affairs scholarship and analysis.
I wish to thank Andrew Sobanet, Ph.D., professor of French and Francophone Studies, for his service as interim dean since July of this past year, and to acknowledge the ongoing dedication of our colleagues in the Dean’s Office. Their efforts have enabled us to continue many important areas of work, including, for example, the formal launch of the Humanities Initiative in its new space and the development of academic programs at the Capitol Campus.
I also wish to offer my appreciation to the members of the search committee and its Chair, Kathleen McNamara, Ph.D., professor of Government and Foreign Service, co-director of the Global Political Economy Project, for their invaluable efforts to advance this search.
We are pleased to welcome Dr. Edelstein into this new role and look forward to the leadership he will provide Georgetown College in its third century. Please join me in congratulating David.
Sincerely,
Robert M. Groves
Interim President