Announcing the new dean of SHASS

To the members of the MIT community,

I am very pleased to share the news that Agustín Rayo, professor of philosophy, will become the next Kenan Sahin Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS) effective February 1. Agustín has served as interim SHASS dean since August 2021.

He will succeed Melissa Nobles, who last summer was named MIT chancellor after having served as SHASS dean since 2015.

Agustín, who grew up in Mexico City, earned his undergraduate degree in 1996 from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and his PhD in philosophy from MIT in 2001. After completing his postdoctoral research at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, he served as an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of California at San Diego. He joined the MIT faculty in 2005.

During his service as associate dean of SHASS from 2016 to 2019, Agustín served as the chair of the Digital Humanities Steering Committee, the SHASS Faculty Diversity Committee, and the SHASS Educational Advisory Committee.

He was elected to the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in 2018, was a Burkhardt Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study in 2009–2010, and was a Professorial Fellow at the University of Oslo from 2015 to 2020. His textbook, On the Brink of Paradox, won the 2020 PROSE Award for best textbook in the humanities.

I would like to thank the members of the Advisory Committee on the Selection of the Dean of SHASS, led by Professor Caspar Hare, for their outstanding efforts on behalf of the school in advising me on this appointment.

Agustín values excellence and is an engaged leader and member of our community who I know will work thoughtfully and rigorously on behalf of SHASS and the Institute. I hope you will join me in congratulating him as he begins his new role.

Sincerely,

Martin A. Schmidt
Provost