Professor Andrew J. Perrin has been named the next director of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities, effective July 1. He will succeed Mark Katz, who completes his IAH term at the end of the spring 2019 semester.
Perrin is a professor of sociology and special assistant to the provost and dean for accreditation and curricular innovation. He has been a member of the Carolina faculty since 2001. Perrin is also an accomplished and interdisciplinary scholar. He has conducted research on the cultural sociology of democracy, health messages in children’s movies and translations of postwar Frankfurt School theory, among other work.
Perrin has deep experience with the IAH. He was a faculty fellow in 2007 and 2016 and completed the Academic Leadership Program in 2010. He was a member of the IAH Faculty Advisory Board, the IAH external review committee, the Weil Lecture Selection Committee and the Johnston Prize Selection Committee.
As a professor of sociology specializing in research on the value of humanities scholarship and education for democratic citizenship, he brings a unique set of skills to support arts and humanities faculty across a spectrum of departments in the College of Arts & Sciences. He also chairs the committee overseeing the General Education Curriculum revision, where he has demonstrated an ability to lead large and complex tasks and build consensus among constituents.
In addition to his curriculum work, Perrin has served as director of the Carolina Seminars since 2014, increasing both the number and scope of these interdisciplinary seminars, and he revived the Douglass Hunt lecture series. He has served on Faculty Council, the Educational Policy Committee and the Faculty Athletics Committee, among other duties in service to Carolina.
Katz has lead the IAH since 2014. His many accomplishments helped enhance the institute’s reputation as a place of innovation and productivity. He oversaw the reorganization of the IAH leadership team and staff, furthered diversity, equity and inclusion, and created new initiatives such as the Academic Excellence Award and the Retired Faculty Program.
